Land of Shadows: A Medieval Mystery
This is the twelfth in the series fearing Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas of the Order of Fontevraud. In March 1279, Eleanor arrives at Woodstock Manor to see her father, Baron Wynethorpe, as he lies dying from a stroke. Queen Eleanor, who is expecting a child, is also at the manor even as her husband attends to the business of moving against the Jews, in part to increase his own coffers. As visitors come and go, one of the queen’s attendants is found hanged after what appears to be a sexual escapade. Unfortunately, Prioress Eleanor’s beloved nephew looks to be the prime suspect. As she works with the High Sheriff and Brother Thomas to clear her nephew, her father’s health becomes ever more precarious, and her brother arrives just as tensions erupt. As blame shifts to an elderly Jewish woman and her granddaughters, Prioress Eleanor suspects that bigotry and corruption may be at the heart of the crime.
This is the third installment of the series I’ve read, and it’s my favorite so far. I found the character development – especially that of Prioress Eleanor’s brother, Hugh, a veteran of the Crusades – deeper and more multi-dimensional and real to me than the sometimes more stereotypical nature of other characters. Like the other books, this one dragged in places, yet I couldn’t stop turning the pages.
