The Lady Chapel (An Owen Archer Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Candace M. Robb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1995

Owen Archer, the intriguing Welsch archer-turned-sleuth, is back-in another riveting challenge to Ellis Peters!

High summer, 1365-and York is glorious with pageantry for the Feast of Corpus Christi. But wool merchant Will Crounce, who acts in "The Last Judgement," meets his maker all too soon, his throat slit in the shadow of the great cathedral. When Crounce's severed hand is found in fellow-merchant Gilbert Ridley's tavern lodging, the Archbishop calls in Own Archer.

To unravel a second murder, and the grisly warning of another severed hand, Owen will need his sharp mind, his bow and arrows, and even his wife Lucie's apothecary skills. For soon he will be drawn into a tangle of greed, treachery, and passion that runs from Ridley and the wool trade all the way to the royal court.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Robb puts the history back into the historical mystery." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Candace M. Robb is also the author of The Apothecary Rose. She lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 287 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (May 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312954603
• ISBN-13: 978-0312954604
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #528,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thriller set in medeival England, April 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lady Chapel (An Owen Archer Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Politics and money drive a gruesome murder mystery in medieval England. It captures most of the elements of a first rate mystery with an added dimension of describing life in the Middle ages in England. The portraits of all the characters are very well drawn - each one has their own flaws and weaknesses. Owen Archer and his wife work through the reasons for the murders and the book does not try to tie up everything neatly but leaves the reader hungry for the next book

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good series, June 15, 2001

By 

tertius3 (MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lady Chapel (An Owen Archer Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Number 2 in the Owen Archer series of medieval mysteries, there is much here for men and women readers alike. In pursuing the grisly deaths of a string of wool merchants in York in 1365, the love between Owen and his new wife Lucie vacillates and grows as they strive to protect the innocent and pursue the conspirators at the behest of their Archbishop. This is a "snowball" novel: a story in which the circle of suspects widens and expands with each murder, rather than narrowing. As the author says, for mystery writers "innocence [is] little more than lack of opportunity." While the male characters appear to be concerned with the wider world, the female characters are the strongest and most interesting ones, for good...or evil. The writing style is somehat dense; it neither leaps off the page nor draws me in.

Except for one character's "thee- and thou-ing," and a few odd terms (see glossary), Robb makes little attempt to render the sounds or cadences of middle English, to differentiate classes of people, or to fill in the religion of the day. In more outward respects the sense of small town England comes across pretty well: tight and narrow towns, remote manors, the pageantry, diverse hand crafts, medicinals, the chill of winter, and the dangers of the night. The plot is somewhat intricate; you may eventually know who is at fault but have a hard time knowing how Owen will prove it. The stories usually evolve into more widely significant political spheres. In The Lady Chapel, we get unusual glimpses of the primitive economics of the time, and a remarkable excursis (for a novel) into the weak understanding of wool supply and taxation underpinning the government and court of King Edward III--and not irrelevant to the plot, either. The Archbishop's moral concern with the "purety" of monetary donations to building his Lady's Chapel (and tomb) is a thin excuse for the book's title. The pb fabric itself is nothing special.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Lady Chapel, February 17, 2004

By 

Brenda Jo Mengeling (Davis, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lady Chapel (An Owen Archer Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

The Lady Chapel, the second Owen Archer mystery, is an enjoyable read. For me, the best part of the mystery is seeing how Owen puts together all the pieces of the puzzle to solve the crime; for the reader the mystery isn't that difficult to solve. Detective work is still new to Archer, and he is a reluctant sleuth. How he develops the skills to solve the crimes is part of the enjoyment of the series.

Candace Robb does a good job of conveying the atmosphere of medieval York, and she is very good at avoiding psychological anachronisms. Her characters don't psychoanalyze each other, and feelings and motivations are described metaphorically not analytically.

The Lady Chapel continues to develop the working relationship between Owen and Thoresby, Archbishop of York. Owen and Lucie are adapting to married life with some difficulties. This book introduces us to Jasper, a young boy, who witnesses the first murder and then must go into hiding, fending for himself. He is such a sweet, yet tough, kid; I cheered for him throughout the entire book. The Lady Chapel should be read after The Apothecary Rose in order to understand the relationships of the characters. Readers of Rose will enjoy this second installment of the series.