The Winter King

February 3, 2014
On All Saints’ Eve, 1211, Lord Benedict de Vitré of Medley Hall, an obese nobleman suspected of lining his pockets with his sovereign’s money, dies suddenly in the midst of a gluttonous feast, in Clare’s intriguing 15th Hawkenlye whodunit (after 2012’s The Song of the Nightingale). Given his poor health and the absence of obvious signs of death, foul play isn’t suspected, despite the number of people wishing him ill, including his wife, Lady Richenza, who has employed healer Sabin de Gifford to thwart her husband’s desire for an heir. Sabin fears that the medications she secretly supplied to make procreation less likely may have contributed to de Vitré’s death. Evidence of murder soon emerges, and de Vitré isn’t the last to die, giving Sabin and her fellow healer, Meggie d’Acquin, several crimes to solve. The convincing depiction of King John’s England, “suffering the results of the monarch’s petulant squabble with Pope Innocent,” makes up for an unremarkable mystery.

July 8, 2013
Clare’s fifth paranormal mystery featuring 11th-century apprentice healer Lassair (after 2011’s The Way Between the Worlds) gets off to a fast start with a “red-bearded giant” bursting into the home of Utta, mother-in-law of Lassair’s sister Goda, and smashing in Utta’s skull. The intruder also injures Goda. Later, someone, presumably the same man, breaks into the abbey where another sister of Lassair lives, the nun Elfritha, and ransacks the dormitory before turning his attention to Lassair’s own home in Aelf Fen, a town in East Anglia. Lassair is at a loss as to what the stranger could be looking for, and her search for answers ends up taking her to Iceland. But the narrative doesn’t sustain the tension created by the rapid-fire acts of terror that kick things off, and the inevitable deceleration makes this a less engaging entry than its predecessor.

March 1, 2014
Hawkenlye Abbey again plays home to misery and murder. England, 1211. King John continues to squeeze his people and nobles for every penny he can get. One of the best at acquiring money and skimming some for himself is Lord Benedict de Vitre, a gross and impotent man whose very young wife has gotten Sabin de Gifford, apothecary and wife of the sheriff of Tonbridge, to provide her with tonics to keep him that way. When Benedict suddenly dies at dinner, Sabin panics and begs Meggie, the bastard daughter of Sir Josse d'Acquin and a powerful forest woman, to examine the body and assure Sabin that her potions did not cause his death. What Meggie finds is far worse--Benedict was stabbed to death with a thin knife--but neither woman says anything. In the meantime, Josse's love, Helewise, former abbess of Hawkenlye, finds a young man dying in the forest; he had been on his way to help a reclusive noble with an unspecified adventure. Another local noble is stirring up sentiment against King John by using the words of a naive monk and Lilas, a woman with dangerous visions whom Caliste, the current abbess of Hawkenlye, has asked Meggie to help. Just as they are about to bury Benedict, the wound is discovered. Both his wife and Sabin blame Meggie, who must hide in her forest hut until the killer is discovered. Although Josse and Helewise try to keep a low profile at their own forest home, they are forced to interfere in matters they would just as soon ignore. The ninth in the Hawkenlye series (The Song of the Nightingale, 2012, etc.) continues the saga with the mixture as before: historical facts, colorful characters, a touch of mysticism and a soupcon of mystery.

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March 1, 2014
It's 1211, and King Johnhated by his subjects because of his harsh taxes and long-standing feud with the popesits on England's throne. Rebellion threatens, with portents and visions of the king's demise rife among the peasantry. As the story opens, wealthy Lord Benedict dies at his own feast. The man is despised by many, including his beautiful young wife and most of his serfs. But when the sheriff determines that Benedict was murdered, a bizarre string of circumstantial evidence leads not to Benedict's wife or servants but to renowned healer Meggie, daughter of Sir Josse d'Aquin. Desperate to prove her innocence, Meggie begs her father to help. Attention is temporarily diverted from the murder when two young men who were apparently headed to visit the reclusive Lord Wimarc are discovered brutally murdered. Were their murders linked in any way to Lord Benedict's? Outstanding period detail, an intriguing plot, engaging characters and suspenseful twists make for an excellent read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)