Customer Reviews

Fortune Like the Moon (A Hawkenlye Mystery)

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In 1189, on the eve of her son Richard's coronation, Queen Eleanor -- think Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter -- opens England's jails and releases hundreds of prisoners as an act of Christian charity in the king-elect's name. But her canny public relations gambit threatens to backfire when a young nun is found dead amidst abundant evidence of rape, robbery and murder a bare day's ride from London.

Richard, suffocating in the details of preparing for his coronation, can scarcely remember his courtiers' names. Nevertheless, he immediately perceives the danger to his reputation. Public opinion already points an accusing finger at the released prisoners. Richard dispatches Josse d'Acquin, knight bachelor, to Hawkenlye Abbey to investigate the nun's death and, with luck, scour this stain from the king-elect's name.

For Sir Josse, the royal appointment owes more to being in the right place at the right time than to any special investigative gifts. Acutely aware of his own shortcomings in this area, Sir Josse remains determined not to let his king down. Fortunately for him, for Richard and for the entire Hawkenlye community, Sir Josse finds an unlikely ally and partner in Hawkenlye's abbess, the intelligent and world-wise Helewise. Like cogs on a well-aligned pair of gears, their talents and abilities mesh to discover the truth.

Part of the freshness of this novel lies in the deft portrayal of life in late 12th-century England. Clare opens an unglazed window into the era without lapsing into the grotesque. Only once or twice did I question the veracity of research details, and those instances did not catapult me out of the story to any significant degree. Sometimes the monologues and dialogues seemed a shade too 20th-century-oriented. But, having traversed that particular Sword Bridge between historical accuracy and reader association myself, I could hardly hold Clare's choices against her. Even the chronic misuse of gerunds to indicate sequential rather than simultaneous actions (a far too common grammatical error in fiction today) didn't detract from my overall enjoyment.

However, I found the well-rounded depiction of the characters themselves the most refreshing aspect of Fortune Like the Moon. Abbess Helewise and Sir Josse possess a healthy awareness of their individual strengths and weaknesses, which makes them believably human without appearing pretentious. The realistic, non-preachy, integration of religion into the characters' lives proved similarly refreshing at a time when so many authors have an axe to grind against Christianity in general and Roman Catholicism in particular.

I raise a frothy flagon to the debut of medieval sleuths Helewise and Josse and look forward to toasting their many future successes.

King Henry I is dead and his wife Elinore of Acquitane is freed from jail. Everyone in England awaits the arrival of the new King Richard from overseas. As a gesture of good will and to demonstrate to the common person that he is the ruler of all of England, Richard grants clemency to the prisoners in the country's jails. Initially, the people applaud his bold move until someone kills a novice at Hawkenylye Abbey. The people believe one of the newly freed individuals is accused of committing the crime.

An irate Richard dispatches one of his knights, Josse D'Aquin, to investigate the murder that could topple his reign. Josse immediately concludes that the assailant arranged the crime scene so witnesses could claim the novice was robbed and raped when in fact, the victim was neither. Josse joins forces with Abbess Helewise in an attempt to uncover the identity of the culprit before the Holy Spirit of the Abbey is destroyed forever.

Readers will relish the arrival of a new crime-fighting duo on the scene especially Josse, an intellectual warrior who uses his brains to solve a crime. Though his belief that women are his equal seems a bit of an anachronism, Josse and the Abbess work so smoothly together, readers will give credence to his faith in the abilities of females. The Abbess is an enlightened thinker who is not afraid to dirty her hands by becoming involved in the secular affairs traditionally handled by males. These characters, a well designed who-done-it, and the pageantry of Medieval England turns Alys Clare's FORTUNE LIKE THE MOON into a fabulous historical mystery.

Harriet Klausner

This debut is set in 1189 just as Richard I is ascending the throne in England. As a gesture of goodwill toward the English people, he has emptied the prisons to show his compassion. Shortly thereafter, there is a heinous murder of a nun at an abbey supported by the king's mother Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor and Richard fear that the king's act of compassion may backfire if the people believe that the murder was committed by a recently released felon. Richard appoints Sir Josse d'Acquin to investigate and solve the murder. Sir Josse begins his investigation in a town near the Hawkenlye Abbey, Tonnbridge. At the Abbey, he joins forces with the Abbess Helewise to determine who the murderer is. But before they can do that a second nun is found murdered.

Clare has written a carefully plotted mystery with a denouement that may surprise. Her history seems sound and she has a feel for the times. However, for those of you who would prefer few if any modern intrusions into their historical mysteries, Clare slipped on more than one occasion and written a decidedly 20th century sentence. In addition, the author would have benefitted from a stronger editor to avoid sentences like,"There were more of the straw pallets, but these ones were rolled up and tied neatly . . . ." Perhaps the next book in this planned series will have an editor who will assist Clare in both her writing and the choice of language. In the meantime, Clare's book is a good read, and a nice addition to the world of historical mystery.

While I was reading this book I kept a piece of paper beside me and tore off a slip to mark every page that I had a question about a historical fact or internal logic. By the time I had finished the top of the book was a forest of little white scraps.

If you are a reader who likes books that are strong on the history or the mystery this book is not for you. It actually begins with an entertaining and nonserious look at Richard the Lionhearted, who has a bit of a publicity problem in England. His mother, in an effort to improve his image, had ordered the release of certain prisoners. Now a young nun was found slain in dramatic circumstances that suggest one of the freed prisoner's performed the heinous act and Richard needed someone to take a look at the situation at Hawkenlye Abbey. The someone he chose was Sir Josse, a knight he had known briefly as a young page, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Sir Josse, on the other hand, is not too pleased to be sent to England. Nevertheless, he goes.

Hawkenlye Abbey is a very unusual medieval institution. It is a double institution, with both monks and nuns under the control of the Abbess. But that's not what is so unusual about it. The surprising part is that 1) Sir Josse appears to walk as freely in and out of the nunnery as he would a manor house, 2) nuns appear to be creeping in and out at all hours of the night, without being noticed, and 3)the Abbess appears to have no problem having unchaperoned meetings with Sir Josse. Also they run a retirement home for old monks and nuns--one home for both it seems. (I have this irrisistable image of aged monks and nuns playing shuffleboard) They also run a reformatory for repentent prostitutes, who are reclaimed from their sinful life by becoming mothers. (Don't ask.) And my favorite was the hospital where a nun was helping a man learn to walk on a crutch. A poacher, explains the Abbess serenely, who lost his foot in a mantrap. I think we are in Disney World.

As for the mystery, Sir Josse appears to think that the state of the sole of a leather shoe worn by a body that has been prepared for burial, encoffined and left in a subterranean crypt for a couple of weeks in the heat of the summer would help his solve a mystery. He also takes a cast of a footprint using melted wax from candle ends. I suppose it is possible but I would wonder why since he knew who the footprint belonged to and rules of evidence were somewhat sketchy at the time. No chain of custody or best evidence rule then. Finally, my favorite, when Sir Josse (who is staying at the guesthouse) stumbles on a body, takes off his tunic to covers its face then rushes bare chested into the Abbess' presence.

The resolution of the mystery in certain ways is telegraphed rather broadly, in other ways definitely violates some of the rules of fair play. But that is for the reader to discover.

Sir Josse d'Acquin is sent by King Richard to investigate a murder at Hawkenlye Abbey, a crime that could put a cloud over his coronation, and a case of particular interest to his mother, Queen Eleanor. The setting is near Tonbridge, at a time when the town was a small village on the main road to London. Sir Josse teams up with Abbess Helewise to investigate and solve the mystery. The case opens up questions about arranged marriages, inheritances, and unrequited love. The investigation reveals surprises about relationships, motives, and actual events. The story is a tragedy for most secondary players, while Josse receives what is perhaps not an unexpected reward for his services.

In the summer of 1189, the body of Gunnora, a young nun, is discovered on a path outside of England's Hawkenlye Abbey. This story is set in the same time as Richard Plantagenet is preparing to be crowned as King Richard I of England. As part of Richard's plan to win favor with the English people, he has freed masses of petty criminals from the English jails as a gesture of good will. Now, since Richard is concerned that Gunnora might have been murdered by one of the freed criminals, he decides to send his knight Sir Josse d'Acquin to investigate her death.

When Sir Josse arrives at Hawkenlye, he quickly concludes that Gunnora was not killed by a petty criminal, but he is intrigued by the circumstances of her death and decides to find out her killer. The story also introduces us to Abbess Helewise, the Abbess of the Hawkenlye Abbey. Together, Josse and Helewise search for the truth. This is the first mystery in this series, and was a very good mystery. The story also does an excellent job of tying in the political uncertainty which reigned in England as Richard I takes the crown.

Sir Josse and Abbess Helewise are both excellent characters. I am looking forward to reading more stories in this series.

Dispatched by King Richard to investigate the brutal murder of a nun at Hawkenlye Abbey in rural Kent, Josse d'Aquin joins forces with Abbess Helewise. d'Aquin has scarcely arrived at the Abbey when a second murder thickens the plot in this promising start to a new medieval mystery series.

On the plus side, the main characters of d'Aquin and Helewise are appealing. In many ways mirror images of each other, they are intelligent, likable and level-headed people and eventually unravel the murders. d'Aquin especially spends a great deal of time riding back and forth from the Abbey to various estates seeking evidence.

Having said that, I would have liked more space devoted to life in 12th Century England. And I wondered about security at the Abbey with nuns scampering out for night-time trysts when the mood struck them. Most importantly, as much as I enjoyed the two main characters, the feeling I took away from this story was one of great sadness. What a toll love and greed exact in this story!

Here's looking forward to the further adventures of Helewise and Josse d'Aquin!

Josse d'Acquin has been sent, by King Richard Plantagenet, to Hawkenlye Abbey. Hawkenlye was designed by Richard's mother, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and is run by a woman, the Abbess Helewise. Richard, at the decision of this Mother, had all prisoners released in celebration of Richard's coronation. Now a young nun has been brutally murdered and Josee is sent to find the killer and do damage control should the killer be one of the released prisoners.

Clare has taken an interesting period of history and embedded it in the story in a way that is fascinating, but not distracting. The dialogue is very well done, not written in the vernacular of the time but with the influence in its cadence. I didn't find I was distracted by it. Josse and Abbess Helewise are interesting characters although we don't learn a lot about them. There are plenty of twists and turns to the story but my biggest quibble is the manner of the victim's death--it's a bit implausible. I very much enjoyed the book and shall definitely continue on with the series.

Fortune Like the Moon
by Alys Clare

After Henry II dies, Richard Plantagenet, (Richard I, "the Lionhearted"), unexpectedly and by default is granted the crown of England, a country he knows little about and cares less. His mother, Eleanor of Acquitaine, newly released from her English imprisonment, has freed criminals awaiting trial in a gesture that she hopes will create hundreds of folk grateful for Richard's humane treatment. When a nun belonging to the Abbey of Hawkenlye, modeled after Eleanor's beloved Fontevraud Abbey, is murdered, Richard worries that his mother's naive act has backfired, and sends one of his trusted knights, Josse d'Acquin, to Hawkenlye to investigate. There, Josse links up with the abbey's young abbess, Helewise, in hopes of solving this crime and, later, the murder of yet another nun. Abbess Helewise is "worldly," having been once married and widowed, and heads a double monastery, one in which monks as well as nuns are under her command. There is a map of the abbey depicting the divisions of space, including the "Virgin Sisters' House," the infirmary and enclosed area for sisters who have elected to care for the lepers, and the vale where the monks tend to the "sacred spring."

The reader learns facts about the Plantagenet family, 12th century life in Tonbridge, a town near the abbey on the road between the south coast and London, the manors, and the surrounding countryside. Author Alys Clare says that it helps that she lives on the spot where her fictional abbey would have stood. The Josse and Helewise investigative "team" is well matched. They continue their collaboration in Alys Clare's subsequent Hawkenlye mysteries, in which Queen Eleanor and King Richard make further appearances. The only jarring note is having 12th century characters occasionally use modern expressions like, "the only way was to sweat it out," or "she gave us a right telling-off."

Leave those old Edith Pargeter books languishing on the shelves. Forget Elizabeth Peters. Hide your cache of Paul Doherty books. Because here, my fellow readers, is the historical series to end all historical series'.

Alys Clare is a brilliant writer, and she wonderfully evokes all things historical about the period. We have no way of knowing whether her details are correct, but they FEEL right. Which is all that matters. The attitudes and events and feelings and details have a certain authenticity about them, which is great.

The plot is simple.....a young nun is found on the path outside an Abbey, her throat slit. Soon, another nun goes missing, and turns up dead. The Abess investigates, along with Sir Josse d-Acquin, friend of the King, who has been asked to inquire into the deaths too, in order to prove that the killer is not one of the fellons which the King recently gave pardon to in order to appease the people, and convince them of his goodwill.

The writing is sharp, and the two lead character (Josse and the Abbess Helewise are great) they are incredibly likeable and human, and they work very well together.

This series is incredibly fresh. The ideas are entirely original, and Clare frequently breaks through the accepted boundaries. She is a daring writer, not unwilling to try something new. the plots are original and interesting, the mysteries intriguing, and the solutions always realistic and satisfying. The resolution to this one comes with a nice amount of emotional impact...and to some could be very moving.

Excellent. And, the novels in this series only get better and better. (Following on from this are..."Ashes of the Elements"#2..."The Tavern in the Morning"#3..."The Chatter of the Maidens"#4..."The Faithful Dead"#5..."A Dark Night Hidden"#6. ONly the first three have been released in the US, but the fourth has been released in the UK already, and is probably the best one so far.)

Enjoy :)