Fortune like the Moon
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4.5 • 16 Ratings
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- £1.99
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- £1.99
Publisher Description
Shortly before his unexpected coronation, King Richard passed a law letting all of England's prisoners go free.
Shortly afterwards a young nun is found, gruesomely murdered. Richard swiftly employs an old military colleague of his, Josse d'Acquin, to unravel this hideous mystery. Who could have wanted to kill this innocent young novice, and, more worryingly, why?
Josse goes to Hawkenlye Abbey to find out the answers to these questions. He is having little success until meets the Abbess Helewise, a woman who quickly proves herself to be his equal, both as an amateur sleuth, and as a figure the community can rely on during this turbulent time for England.
This duo have to find the murderer, and find him quickly, or they'll have the King of England to answer to...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The brutal murder of a young nun threatens the peace of the kingdom in this promising first novel by an author who might just be the next Ellis Peters. Richard Plantagenet, at his mother's behest, has released prisoners to signal the start of his enlightened reign in 1189. Fearful the people will rally against him, Richard dispatches knight Josse d'Acquin to Hawkenlye Abbey, headed by the incomparable Abbess Helewise, to make sure a freed felon didn't commit the crime. The abbess tells Josse that the slain novice, Gunnora, while outwardly devout, didn't have the right attitude for convent life. In fact, her only friend was newcomer Elvera, with whom she gossiped and laughed. Delving into Gunnora's past, Josse discovers that she was the older daughter of a dying lord who wanted her to marry a neighbor in order to join their lands. Rather than do so, she entered the convent while her younger sister married the man. But the sister has since died, leaving in question who will inherit the combined estate. Through a jeweled cross left at the scene of the murder, Josse is able to determine that Gunnora was Elvera's cousin. Before he can ask Elvera in detail about her relative's death, however, she drowns. Clare tells a chilling tale of inheritance and love while highlighting the analytic skills of both widowed Helewise and former warrior Josse, whose charming relationship will leave readers for more.
