Mistress of the Art of Death

After a hectic week, I’m having a lovely relaxing weekend, cosied in with a good book, whilst the wind and rain blusters outside, I’ve just managed to finish a book I’ve had on the go for ages, not for not wanting to read it, just lack of time.

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, is the second of the books I brought at the Kingston Killers event and it was yet another very good read. The first in the Mistress of the Art of Death series, set in the 12th century, it tells the tale of Adelia, sent by King of Sicily upon request by his friend Henry II, to solve a series of child murders in the city of Cambridge, which had been falsely blamed on the Jews. Adelia, a doctor with the ability to read what the dead is telling us, is accompanied by the renowned investigator Simon of Naples and the Arab Mansur, they make an unusual trio. Realising their suspicions lay with a band of returning Crusaders, the finger of suspicion points at many of the inhabitants of the town they come across.

This is an excellent book, very atmospheric but with the right amount of detail (i.e. not overladen with research from the author). I particularly liked the very believable characters, my favourite was Henry II himself, although he did not feature much in the story, when he did, there was a very real feeling of a normal man with a very great deal of power, a man hampered by the murder of Becket and struggling with the power play between monarchy and church. All in all a great read, will definitely be reading more books from the series.