Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Forsaken Soul by Priscilla Royal. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.
Forsaken Soul by Priscilla Royal
A Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal Mystery
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-521-6 (1590585216)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-521-4 (9781590585214)
Publication Date: August 2008
List Price: $24.95
Review: Prioress Eleanor, administrator of the Tyndal Priory on the East Anglican coast of England, investigates the gruesome murder of a local cooper in Forsaken Soul, the 5th mystery in this series by Priscilla Royal.
In the summer of 1273, Prioress Eleanor is training a new Prioress, Sister Ruth, and a new anchoress, Sister Juliana. An anchoress lives in a single, small room and listens to visitors who need counsel. Her only duty is to listen and give advice during daylight hours. Sister Juliana, however, insists on only night-time visitors -- for reasons known only to her. This causes dissention inside the Priory, especially for Sister Ruth. The Priory serves both the spiritual and worldly needs of the village. Between her duties at the Priory, her work with the monks and the police, Prioress Eleanor is kept busy trying to keep peace and bring the unbelievers to God.
It is during one of her outside visits to the village when she learns that Martin, the cooper, has been found poisoned to death. His murder isn't all that unexpected as he was a crude, nasty man. Suspicion, however, immediately falls upon his pregnant whore, Ivetta. But when she's poisoned, Eleanor, together with Thomas the monk, is forced to look elsewhere. Thomas believes it highly improbable that two people, so well known to each other, died by the same method within such a short period of time. Before any solution to the crimes can be found, Will, the blacksmith is poisoned. Is this the act of one person? If so, why, kill a cooper, his whore, and a blacksmith? What is the common thread?
Forsaken Soul is a fascinating story both in the historical sense and for its fictional plot. With generous attention to detail, readers may readily imagine the dingy bar with the foul odors and dingy tables, and the upstairs room where Martin took Ivetta, mostly for himself but sometimes with the other men who visited. The dark, windy streets teem with evil shady men and women. Nefarious schemes abound. One doesn't need to be a fan of historical mysteries to enjoy this wonderfully atmospheric medieval tale of murder.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Forsaken Soul and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
If you are interested in purchasing Forsaken Soul from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.
Synopsis (from the publisher): The summer of 1273 is peaceful for most of England—except in the village of Tyndal where Martin the cooper has been poisoned at the local inn.
Could the murderer be his usual whore who is about to be tossed aside for another woman? Or the innkeeper’s niece with secret reasons for fearing him? Perhaps the blacksmith did it, a man whose temper might have exploded when he was mocked once too often. Martin had enough enemies. The killer could be anyone.
This crime has naught to do with the priory, but Prioress Eleanor grieves for her friend—the newly bereaved Crowner Ralf—and offers what help she and former apothecary Sister Anne can.
When her own problems multiply, Eleanor has good reason to regret her kindness. Her new anchoress terrifies her servants and welcomes visitors to her window at night. One of those visitors has been Brother Thomas, a man the prioress secretly loves and whose loyalty to her as head of Tyndal Priory is now suspect.
Bodies multiply. Suspects disappear. No one likes the direction the evidence points, but God’s justice must be rendered—even for the forsaken soul.
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