Description
From Publishers Weekly Adventurer Josse d'Acquin and the sage Abbess Helewise return in The Tavern in the Morning: A Hawkenlye Mystery, a fourth medieval historical from Alys Clare (Fortune Like the Moon), this time to investigate the mysterious poisoning (by wolf's bane) of a guest at an inn d'Acquin frequents regularly. Though the dialogue is unmistakably contemporary, Clare's rich descriptions brings the English countryside to life and the fast-talking duo make a charming pair of sleuths. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Booklist In the time of Richard Lionheart, Josse d'Acquin and the Abbess Helewise have formed a deep friendship. When a man dies of poisoning at an inn known for the quality of its food, Josse seeks Helewise's counsel, although she is weak from a bout of fever. The murder leads Josse to discover a defiant, widowed noblewoman named Joanna and her son, Ninian, hiding from an insinuating cousin of Joanna's, Denys de Courtenay. A second murder, of a local wisewoman with ties to Joanna, quickens the plot. Josse and Joanna succumb to their passionate attraction for each other; meanwhile, the skeins of the mystery--Ninian's parentage, Denys' veiled threats to the abbey--come together spectacularly. Clare expertly handles the vivid Ninian and the resourceful Joanna, but it is the intellectual, reasoned, and devoted interplay between Josse and Helewise that is most intriguing and most appealing. A fine addition to the growing number of mystery series based in English history. GraceAnne DeCandido Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Alys Clare divides her time between Tonbridge, England-in the area where Tavern in the Morning is set--and her ancient stone cottage in Brittany. The author of two previous Hawkenlye mysteries, Fortune Like the Moon and Ashes of the Elements , she has also studied archaeology at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Read more
Features & Highlights
- At the end of a dark and dreary market day, Goody Anne's inn at Tonbridge is finally settling down for the night. But while Anne's serving maid and boy finish up their chores, a man lies dying in the guest chamber-poisoned by a piece of pie made by Goody Anne herself.Josse d'Acquin, a knight with a knack for solving mysteries, is troubled by the news of the stranger's death. Josse has been a regular visitor to Goody Anne's, and he hates to think that Anne-or her fine cooking-has fallen suspect. He rides off to the scene of the crime and starts his own investigation. When Josse discovers wolf's bane in the remnants of the pie, he knows that someone must have tampered with Anne's cooking. And when he learns that a charming, handsome nobleman ordered a piece of that very pie, Josse is convinced that the poison was meant for this upper-class guest, and not for the poor stranger who died alone in Anne's guest chamber.After failing to persuade the Sheriff that the death was suspicious, Josse turns to his old friend, the formidable Abbess Helewise. Weakened from a severe bout of fever, the Abbess nonetheless provides a thread of common sense as Josse follows the trail of murder into the ancient, mysterious Wealden Forest, and finds something there that will change his life forever . . . .
