The Good Death (Somershill Manor Mysteries)
Lord of Somershill Manor, Oswald de Lacy is explaining the origin of a letter to his dying mother. The letter dates back to 1349, when Oswald was a monk in Kintham Abbey. As third son in the de Lacy line, Oswald was never expected to be head of the Somershill estate. Only after the sudden death of his father and two older brothers did Oswald return to the family home and become lord of the manor. The story behind the letter returns Oswald to the abbey and the nearby village of Stonebrook where young women are disappearing. With the help of his tutor, Brother Peter, Oswald is determined to find the perpetrator.
The Good Death is the fifth in the highly regarded Somershill Manor Mystery series. This well-crafted medieval mystery tantalizes readers, leading them to suspect first one, then another, and another of its multidimensional and nuanced characters. It also delves into themes of privilege, retribution and justice, faith and loss of faith, deceit, truth, and forgiveness.
Written at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, The Good Death, and its predecessors in the series, are eerily relevant. The books are set during the Black Plague, which killed nearly half of the people in western Europe between 1348 and 1350 and recurred between 1360 and 1363. This novel brings the fears, suspicions, and misinformed attitudes of the past into the stark reality of the present.
