Search - The Servant's Tale (Sister Frevisse, Bk 2)

An entertaining read. There are plenty murders involved but, like the first of the Sister Frevisse mysteries, I was able to guess the murderer early in the novel. Despite that fact, I enjoyed the book and enjoyed reading of the new characters introduced. It is also interesting to compare the portrayal of the crowner in these novels and the crowner in the Crowner John Mysteries. Reading medieval mysteries by different authors shines light on medieval life and times.

Book 2
the ending totally had me surprised! We also meet Joliffe who is the main character in another series by same author. This is a good one!

In the tradition of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael, Sister Frevisse is good at discerning both spiritual and secular mysteries.

This was my introduction to Sister Frevisse. As a sleuth, I like her. She has some depth to her background and I suspect it is being slowly revealed as the books go on (I could be wrong on that, it might just be being repeated, but I don't think so).

Unlike a lot of modern mysteries, this one actually has the sleuth doing some sleuthing and relies on the plot to move the story along rather than comedy. She also appears to have a good working knowledge of the time period. I don't know myself, but there were just touches here and there (and not overdone--characters didn't discuss things they'd already know, yet I had enough info to know what was going on even though I didn't know the time period. Nicely done).

If I found another of this series I'd read it. I don't think I was quite in the mood for something suspenseful when I read this, though, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I think I should have, given it was plot driven with a good character set and well written. Still, it had a good ending which redeems much and I will certainly give the author another try when I'm not so tense.

Really well-written medieval mystery; Sister Frevisse is very believable and it's just a great read.

Second in a series of mysteries that take place in medieval England.