Customer Reviews

The Murderer's Tale (A Sister Frevisse Medieval Mystery)

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This is probably the best in the Sister Frevisse series so far, even though we know who the murderer is from the beginning. What we discover as we read is a medieval mystery that has a great sense of time and place. We see the whole "castle keep life" as they lived it. We also see the superstition and belief in the supernatural that was so much a part of this day and age. It must have been terrible for anyone that suffered from the "falling sickness" back then since people were so afraid that that person was possessed by demons.

Frazer presents not a mystery but a portrait of a sociopathic killer. Some of the chapters are told from the murderer's point of view, others from the point of view of Sister Frevisse who begins to suspect the obvious facts of the case as the murderer has meant them to be seen. Dame Frevisse and Dame Clair, unable to stand the autocratic rule of their new prioress Dame Alys, confess to their sins of pride and disobedience and are sent on pilgrimage to expiate and take a break from dealing with her in person. Stopping first at Minster Lovell to present the convent's side of a dispute over the repair of a well granted to the nuns by Lovell, they are there when a manservant is found murdered after attending to his master during an epileptic fit. While everyone assumes that the demon they believe causes the fits led to the murder, Sister Frevisse pieces together inconsistencies of the crime scene with her observations of both the manservant and the family of his master. But is her suspicion of the epileptic's cousin due to her reading of the situation or to her dislike of the man? And how does that relate to problems with Dame Alys? The author presents a fifteenth century community that comes sympathetically alive to the modern reader, with both accurate period detail and compelling characterization. I don't know why this one is so expensive compared to others in the series, but it is worth reading.

I enjoyed this Margaret Frazer mystery... the only thing is that unusually the murderer is revealed early on.... and you are left wondering if he really gets caugh the whole book. A different twist.

Margaret Frazer's THE MURDERER'S TALE takes Dame Frevisse and Dame Claire on a pilgramage to repent of their misdeeds. Both nuns want the trip to escape the wrath of Dame Alys who was elected the head nun by accident.
Their walk is to take them to Oxford, but on the way they are to deliver papers to Lord Lovet in regards to a well. The upkeep of which is in question.
On the way they meet Lionel, his nephew Giles and Giles's wife who are traveling for the same purpose. Lionel is seeking help for the saints to cure him of a life long affliction with "the possession of deamons" know to us as epilepsy.
Lionel has a violent seizure in the chapel. The next morning he is found with a knife in his hand next to the body of his faithful companion. Lionel is inprisoned for the deed in this "madness," but Dame Fravisse has doubts.
Her perchance of asking questions leads to a quarrel with Dame Claire. Who sees the right way?
A fun filled read in another century written by a master. You will enjoy the tale.
Nash Black, author of SANDPRINTS OF DEATH.