Haunted Abbot (Sister Fidelma Mysteries 11) [Paperback]

Peter Tremayne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2003 | Series: Sister Fidelma Mysteries 11

As they are preparing to return to Ireland, Fidelma and Brother Eadulf receive a mysterious summons. Eadulf's childhood friend, Brother Botulf, has requested their presence at Aldred's Abbey at midnight on the old pagan feast of Yule. Fidelma and Eadulf battle against the harsh winter storms to arrive in time, only to find they are too late. Botulf is dead - killed by an unknown hand. As they struggle to comprehend this staggering news, it soon becomes clear that the murder of this young monk is not the only trouble facing the abbey. The abbey is haunted by the ghost of a young woman - a woman some say bears a startling likeness to the Abbot Cild's dead wife. But can Fidelma and Eadulf discover the truth before they themselves fall victim to the danger which pervades the abbey walls?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Sister Fidelma, seventh-century religieuse of the Celtic Church and advocate of the Irish Brehon Courts, continues her travels in search of spiritual and personal fulfillments. Together with her beloved companion, Brother Eadulf, she journeys to East Anglia to visit Aldred's Abbey. Arriving in the middle of a snowstorm on the eve of the winter solstice, Fidelma and Eadulf are shocked to find Brother Botulf, the steward of the abbey and Eadulf's childhood friend, with his skull brutally smashed in. Although the abbey itself appears to be haunted and Christians and pagans are engaging in armed conflict, Fidelma probes beneath the surface to uncover a decidedly unexpected motive for murder. Interwoven into the suspenseful plot is the intimate story of Fidelma and Eadulf as they decide whether to permanently bind themselves to one another--a commitment sanctioned by the ancient church before celibacy became a requirement. Tremayne displays his usual meticulous attention to historical detail in this intelligent and artfully crafted whodunit. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

HEMLOCK AT VESPERS 'This collection is an essential canonical text for Sister Fidelma acolytes' Publisher's Weekly 'Fidelma's fans will welcome this first-ever collection, many stories of which are appearing here for the first time' Kirkus Reviews 'A treasure trove of small gems for historical mystery fans' Booklist 'A complex mesh of betrayals that also catch up the sleuth, exploiting both Fidelma's strengths and vulnerabilities' Kirkus Reviews 'Beguiling' Peterborough Evening Telegraph ACT OF MERCY 'wonderfully evocative' The Times VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 'Tremayne's discriminating sense of history distinguishing ever-finer conflicts...creates an equally complex mystery for history-mad readers with eyes as sharp as Fidelma's' Kikus Reviews Praise for previous novels: 'The Sister Fidelma books give the readers a rattling good yarn. But more than that, they bring vividly and viscerally to life the fascinating lost world of the Celtic Irish. I put down The Spider's Web with a sense of satisfaction at a good story well told, but also speculating on what modern life might have been like had that civilisation survived' Ronan Bennett 'A heroine whom many readers will willingly follow' Kirkus Reviews; 'A brilliant and beguiling heroine. Immensely appealing, difficult to put down' PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY; 'Definitely an Ellis Peter competitor...the background detail is marvellous' EVENING STANDARD;

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (February 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074726435X
• ISBN-13: 978-0747264354
• Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 0.9 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #402,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Tremayne is the fiction pseudonym of Peter Berresford Ellis, a renowned Celtic scholar who has written over 30 books on the Ancient Celts and the Irish. As Tremayne, he is best known for his stories and novels featuring 7th century Irish religieuse Fidelma of Cashel. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Yuletide ghost story, August 25, 2004

By 

Brian D. Callahan (Webster, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Haunted Abbot: A Mystery of Ancient Ireland (Sister Fidelma) (Hardcover)

I have read all the books in the Sister Fidelma series to date, and this one is quite different from most of the earlier ones. It appears that the relationship between Eadulf and Fidelma is going to be developed far beyond the Holmes-Watson stereotype that had been used in many of the earlier books. Indeed, Eadulf does most of the detecting during the course of the novel, as Fidelma spends the first 3/4 of the story very ill from a winter-induced ague. She does come back to put things together and solve the mystery at the end of the book, however. The story does take place at Christmas time, but this really doesn't enter into the story much except for the winter season. This also seems like a much darker book than most of the earlier stories. The harsh winter setting and the description of the bleak society of the Saxons (the book is set near Eadulf's home village of Seaxmund's Hame) contrasts starkly with the usual rich description of Irish society in the stories set in Eirann. On a picky note, some of the villains in the story escape punishment and a few of the questions in the story are really unanswered, but the unusual story and the character descriptions make up for that. The ending leads to much intriguing speculation on the futures of Eadulf and Fidelma, and makes me look forward to the continuation of the series. After many stories keeping them in a very static situation, the series promises to make some major changes in the future. Overall, not the best of the series, but still a better than average medieval style mystery.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting multi-layered seventh century mystery, April 29, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: The Haunted Abbot: A Mystery of Ancient Ireland (Sister Fidelma) (Hardcover)

In 666 AD, Sister Fidelma of Cashel, daughter and sister to kings, is in what will become Great Britain with her Saxon husband Brother Eudolf, the emissary to Theodore, the Arch-bishop of Canterbury. After they are through with their business they travel to Aldred's Abbey to meet Brother Botulf who begged for a midnight meeting. Before they reach the abbey, they are caught in a storm and find shelter with "Mad" Mull who warns them that the place they seek is evil.

By the time they reach Aldred's Abbey, Fidelma is sick and Abbot Cild doesn't want a female in residence. He doesn't follow the Celtic Church but is a fanatic about obeying the rules coming out of Rome. Brother Botulf was murdered that morning and when Cild sees the ghost of his dead wife, he locks up Fidelma because he thinks she's a witch. When she is better, Fidelma and Eudolf escape but she must still solve the mystery of the death of Cild's wife and Brother Botulf if she wants to avert a war between two kingdoms.

The two protagonists are married under Irish law for a year and a day, but Fidelma realizes she can never be happy in Eudolf's homeland where women are treated as chattel. She does not have the power to question witnesses or give testimony and must tiptoe around the beliefs of the South Folk if she wants to bring the guilty to justice. THE HAUNTED ABBEY is an exciting multi-layered mystery and Peter Tremayne sets up the next book on the series with the last sentence of the novel so that a stunned, excited, and impatient audience will clamor for an early release of that novel.

Harriet Klausner

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars more of the same, which isn't bad but isn't great, January 11, 2005

By 

Paul Jones Johnson "archaeoj" (lilburn, ga USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Haunted Abbot: A Mystery of Ancient Ireland (Sister Fidelma) (Hardcover)

I've read as many of the books in this series as I could find. Fidelma is a terrific character and the setting is wonderful for those of us who enjoy a change of culture and setting. My only concern, and this may be a bit picky, is similar to a concern I bring to the Tony Hillerman novels featuring Jim Chee, the Navaho policeman. Each of these series fall prey to a forumulaic movement of narrative with predictable red herrings and plot developments. Similar to the Hillerman stories, coincidence of events and chance meetings of significant characters occur so often that the credulity of even the most generous reader is stretched to the breaking point. Plot holes are filled with hasty statements of explanation that do not satisfy and feel as if they were inserted at the insistence of a careful editor who came upon some gaping loose ends. There is much here to enjoy, but it is a rather shallow story that does not do credit to the depth of Fidelma's spirit.