Bone of Contention: A Magdalene la Batarde Mystery [Hardcover]

Roberta Gellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 2002

Magdalene la Bâtarde obeys William of Ypres, her great patron, as a vassal obeys his overlord--even though William would have a laughing fit if he knew how she felt. However, when King Stephen summons his barons to a great council in Oxford, William can smell the stink of treason--and William has enemies who might spread that stink over him. He needs a safe place to talk to friends and cajole enemies, so he summons Magdalene. What could be less political and more innocent than visiting a favorite whore?

Magdalene knows she will find trouble in Oxford, but she doesn't expect that it will be murder or that the threat against William will come through the naming on one of his men, Niall Arvagh of Murcot, a killer. No one believes Niall would stab a man in the back, not even so gross and disgusting a creature as Aimery St. Cyr. But this is a special case. Did Niall kill St. Cyr because he claimed to be betrothed to the pretty heiress Loveday of Otmoor, whom Niall wanted for himself? Or as rumor claimed, did Niall kill on orders of his master, William of Ypres, for political reasons?

William bids Magdalene untangle the ugly mess, which makes her grateful that Sir Bellamy of Itchen has been ordered to attend the Council and will escort her to Oxford. Bell says he is willing to try to discover whether Niall is innocent--but can Magdalene trust him completely this time? A dangerous complication has arisen. Has Bell become so jealous of William that his sense of justice could be overwhelmed?

Fortunately, Magdalene still has friends in Oxford--whores and barmaids--who will bring her news and help her pick the strands of romance apart from the rope of treason and reweave them into a net to entangle a murderer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Once again, Gellis proves herself a master of the medieval historical in her third outing (after 2001's A Personal Devil) to feature whorehouse mistress Magdalene la Batarde. In June 1139, Magdalene's patron, William of Ypres, calls her to Oxford, where King Stephen is holding his great council. Her reservations that something may be amiss are confirmed when the detestable Aimery St. Cyr is stabbed to death, and one of Sir William's men, Niall Arvagh of Murcot, is the prime suspect. Ensconced at her old whorehouse, the Soft Nest, Magdalene joins forces with Sir Bellamy of Itchen to find the murderer before there's a political scandal. The plot is as skillfully woven and as intricate as a medieval tapestry, though the large number of characters means the action plods at times. (The author's note at the end does much to clarify the many historical personages involved.) Meticulous attention to detail, from the takeout of cookshop food to the mail shirts men wore, and believable human characters, notably the intelligent, courageous, caring and compassionate Magdalene, help put Gellis at the forefront of this popular mystery subgenre.Achievement Award.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In a tale where the cast of characters is longer than your arm and there's enough governmental conspiracy to make Watergate look like a two-bit burglary, Gellis' plucky heroine, Magdalene la Batarde, once again goes undercover, literally and figuratively, to solve a series of murders set in twelfth-century England. As a London whoremistress under the protection of William of Ypres, Magdalene is a medieval madam whose beauty and political patronage place her at the center of a courtly power play. But when a brutish cur is murdered and one of William's henchmen falsely accused, Magdalene and her lover, Sir Bellamy, team up to track down the killer, but not before two other men meet their deaths. A harlot with a heart of gold and a head for intrigue, Magdalene is more than just another saucy wench; she's smart, compassionate, and fearless, handy traits for any detective, no matter what century she's born in. With a commanding knowledge of medieval history and customs, Gellis infuses this ancient world with contemporary relevance. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (September 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765300192
• ISBN-13: 978-0765300195
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #974,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Roberta Gellis has a varied educational background--a master's degree in biochemistry and another in medieval literature--and working history--10 years as a research chemist, many years as a free-lance editor of scientific manuscripts, and more than 40 years as a writer. She is married--to the same man for over 60 years (no mean feat in these days) and lives in Lafayette, Indiana, with her husband Charles and a lively Scottish terrier called Zoe. She has one child, Mark, who teaches Rhetoric (a fancy name for expository writing) at Kettering University in Michigan. Mark is married to Sandra and they have a lovely daughter, Elizabeth.

Gellis has been a successful writer of historical fiction, publishing over 25 meticulously researched historical novels since 1964. The best known of these are The Roselynde Chronicles (ROSELYNDE, ALINOR, JOANNA, GILLIANE, RHIANNON, and SYBELLE). The series has been reprinted many times since its first appearance in 1979, most recently in 2006. Gellis has also been the recipient of many awards, including the Silver and Gold Medal Porgy for historical novels from West Coast Review of Books, the Golden Certificate and Golden Pen from Affaire de Coeur, The Romantic Times Award for Best Novel in the Medieval Period (more than once) and Lifetime Achievement Award for Historical Fantasy, as well as Romance Writers of America's Lifetime Acheivement Award.

More recently Gellis has ventured into other genres, starting with mythological fantasy (DAZZLING BRIGHTNESS, SHIMMERING SPLENDOR, ENCHANTED FIRE, BULL GOD, and THRICE BOUND). Most recently she has written historical fantasy, with a series of book coauthored by Mercedes Lackey set in Elizabethan times (THIS SCEPTER'D ISLE, ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT, BY SLANDEROUS TONGUES, and AND LESS THAN KIND). Before that she was writing historical mysteries, a four-book series set in London and Oxford in 1139 (A MORTAL BANE, A PERSONAL DEVIL, BONE OF CONTENTION and CHAINS OF FOLLY) and one set in the Italian Renaissance in Ferrara (LUCREZIA BORGIA and the MOTHER OF POISONS).

Since Gellis is one of the early addicts to electronic readers---she purchased a RocketeBook way back in 1999---it is no surprise that she was eager to get her own out of print historical romances into electronic format. Cerridwen Press (http://www.cerridwenpress.com) has published the Heiress Series (THE ENGLISH HEIRESS, THE CORNISH HEIRESS, THE KENT HEIRESS, FORTUNE'S BRIDE, and A WOMAN'S ESTATE) as well as the Royal Dynasty Series (don't ask me about that, there isn't a royal or a dynasty in any of the four books---it was a notion of a long-ago agent) SIREN SONG, WINTER SONG, FIRE SONG, and A SILVER MIRROR. Cerridwen offers a variety of formats, one of which can be read by the Kindle and for those too firmly addicted to paper, the books are also available in a very nice Trade edition (but those are rather expensive).

I'm sorry I don't have any amusing anecdotes to relate, as recommended by the Profile, but a writer's life is really very quiet. Sometimes my neighbors ask my husband what has happened to me because they haven't seen me in such a long time. Depending on his humor of the moment, sometimes Charles tells them that I can't come outside because he keeps me chained to my computer---but that isn't true. He lets me get up once in a while.

Roberta Gellis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong medieval mystery, September 12, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bone of Contention: A Magdalene la Batarde Mystery (Hardcover)

Once she was a wife to a minor lord and mistress of her own manor until her husband, in a fit of jealousy, tried to kill her and she defended herself by killing him first. She ran away and thanks to her beauty became a courtesan but even then two men were killed because of her beauty. Now, Magdalene la Batarde is determined to be her own woman. She is the whore mistress of the Old Priory Guesthouse and her patron is William of Ypres, King Stephen's chief enforcer.

William asks Magdalene to meet him in Oxford where the king is conducting a council. He needs a place to go where he can hold meetings that will be kept secret and nobody can arrange things like that better than Magdalene. She is accompanied by her lover Sir Bellamy, the Bishop of Winchester's chief knight and together they find a place to serve William's need as well as their own. While in Oxford, a series of murders occur and to protect William's interests (and her own sense of justice) Magdalene conducts an investigation in hopes of flushing out a murderer.

She is the grand mistress of medieval works of fiction and her series of medieval mysteries are some of the best ever written. One gets a sense of the era as well as learning how the different classes acted and thought. Although this is a work of fiction, the historical events are very true and make for a fascinating reading experiences. BONE OF CONTENTION will be sought after by those who like the Brother Cadfael mysteries and those written by Peter Tremayne.

Harriet Klausner

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detecting in the Time of Good King Stephen, August 28, 2002

By 

Sires "I enjoy mysteries, historical and proc... (Chesapeake, OH, United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bone of Contention: A Magdalene la Batarde Mystery (Hardcover)

This is a great treat for those of us who admire Roberta Gellis' historical novels and her more recent historical mysteries

Set in the reign of King Stephen, a millieu that Gellis has used to good affect in previous historical novels, Gellis takes us to the King's Court at Oxford at a time when the air is filled with political intrigue and various factions are vying for the King's favor. The current favorite is Waleran of Meulan who is in contest with William of Ypres, the protector of Magdalene la Batarde, for the king's ear.

William summons Magdalene, the mistress of the Old Priory Guesthouse, an upscale medieval brothal, to Oxford to help him with information gathering. Men may meet at a prostitute's lodgings without suspicion. Magdalene travels to Oxford in the Company of Sir Bellamy, the Bishop of Winchester's knight and her particular friend. In Oxford she seeks lodgings with an old friend who runs a brothel called the Soft Nest.

Then events start to escalate as a man is murdered and one of William's captains is implicated-- or is it all a plot to destroy William? Magdalene meets old friends and new as she tries to unravel the mystery of who killed a drunken man at arms and why (and who was the highborn patron who had tried to help the dead man secure a marriage with a wealthy orphan in the King's wardship.)

Like the two previous books in this series, this is a great read with a good feel for the period and a good mystery. And as an added inside joke for those of us who are Gellis fans there is even a reference to the hero of one of her previous historical novels (not a mystery).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very fine historical mystery--great characters, December 10, 2002

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booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Bone of Contention: A Magdalene la Batarde Mystery (Hardcover)

When King Steven calls a council, many people hasten to attend--those who hope to win a lawsuit, those who seek royal favor, and even whoremistresses like Magdalene la Batarde. Magdalene owes her life to William of Ypres and knows that she can serve him by providing a place of refuge and a secure meeting area. She doesn't expect to become involved in murder, but when an attempt at a forced wedding ends with the prospective groom stabbed in the back and one of William's men a suspect, Magdalene decides to investigate.

Magdalene's lover, Bell, is also in Oxford, serving his master's orders at the great council. Bell is jealous of Magdalene's loyalty to William and concerned for her safety as she plunges deeper into the investigation, but overall a good sport. He pitches in, serves escort duty, and interviews men at arms, bartenders, and others that Magdalene could not approach.

In BONE OF CONTENTION, author Roberta Gellis delivers a powerful and fascinating view of an important time in English history. Her historical details are excellent, providing insights to the historically inclined without being obtrusive to those following the mystery. Even more so than in A PERSONAL DEVIL, Gellis delves into her characters. Both Magdalene and Bell are successfully detailed, with understandable conflict that cannot be resolved by a simple discussion. The mystery is compelling with a rich assortment of suspects and an abundance of clues.