Friday 5 December 2008

Cruel as the Grave ~ Sharon Kay Penman

Justin de Quincy is back again in the 2nd book of this medieval series. Justin is called upon by a friend to solve the murder of a 15-year old Welsh girl Melangell who was killed in the church graveyard. The accused are two brothers who seem to be hiding something are not helpful in solving the mystery of this young girl. The father also seems to be hiding something. Again Justin has his work cut out for him to find a killer and the reason why.

It is April 1193 and Justin is summoned back to court by Eleanor of Aquitaine while Richard the Lionheart sets in a German prison his younger brother John seizes Windsor Castle and the Queen ask Justin to undertake a dangerous mission by asking him to mediate a truce with John. Also, Justin discovers that Claudine de Loudun is with child and she wants to abort the child with special herbs, not sure what to do Justin confides in the Queen, which upsets Claudine. The Queen arranges for Claudine to leave and have the child and home found for the child.

I do not read many mystery's, but the clues that Justin was able to discover and how he unraveled those clues were interesting. Although, not a terrible read was not as good as the first book and I was not impressed with the discovery of the killer. Many of the same characters return in this book, which I enjoyed.

2 comments:

Marg said...

I hope you keep reading this series. For me it just got stronger from this point on!

And when you have read the mysteries, you really need to read her straight historicals! They are among my favourite books ever!

Lynda said...

I look forward to reading this series,but take onboard your comments.;0)