Customer Reviews

My Lady Judge: A Mystery of Medieval Ireland

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In "My Lady Judge," Cora Harrison introduces Mara O'Davoren, Brehon of the Kingdom of the Burren, in sixteenth-century Ireland. In addition to her usual duties as judge, Mara runs a law school on her premises, and, as the story opens, one of her students is murdered.

This story is fairly slow-paced and meanders a bit, so readers who prefer a fast-moving plot might not find it enjoyable. World-building is one of the high points of Harrison's writing. I found the insights into the history and culture of Ireland fascinating, even to small details of clothes, houses and food. Mara is a fun heroine, very smart, a touch vain, a bit arrogant, but with the ability to recognize her faults and laugh at herself. The supporting characters are also strong, believable and interesting.

I look forward to reading additional items in this series.

I liked this book a lot and plan to read the two that follow. But it is not great literature. The writing is so simple that the book reads like a young adult novel - not surprising since Cora Harrison has written many books for young adults. But it is worth reading as an adult novel if only for the unique historical perspective. Harrison has a firm grasp and a deep understanding of life in the northwest of County Clare five hundred years ago. While it is very melodramatic and the the characters are too stylized -- totally good or totally evil, lacking self knowledge or very wise -- to be totally believable the book is still worth reading because of Harrison's sensitivity to the culture. It is a quick read so the time investment isn't heavy. I would recommend it as an enjoyable light novel with some remarkable cultural depth and some interesting plot twists. I would rate it as 3 1/2 if I could.

Book Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: It was then, as it is now, a land of grey stone.

Thirty-six-year-old Mara is the Brehon (judge) of the kingdom of the Burren in western Ireland, and also in charge of the law school. When everyone in the area troops up Mullaghmore Mountain to celebrate a feast day, Mara's assistant, Colman, does not return. Two days later his body is found up on the mountain in close proximity to where the celebration occurred. Although Colman has never been popular, Mara has to wonder how he could die so close to revelry... and no one sees a thing. As judge, it is her business to bring the murderer to justice.

Each chapter of My Lady Judge begins with a bit of medieval Irish law, which I found to be very interesting. Sometimes I even found those ancient laws to be better than current ones, such as this judgment concerning someone we would call developmentally disabled today:

"The Court finds that Feirdin MacNamera is to be classified as fer lethcuinn, a half-sane man. This means that he has the protection of the court and the community. Anyone who incites him to commit a crime must himself pay the penalty, anyone who mocks him will be fined five sets, two and a half ounces of silver, or three milch cows. This is the law of the king."



Once Mara discovers the main reason why Colman was so unpopular, she has more suspects than she knows what to do with, so she proceeds to investigate as quickly as she can. Most of Mara's investigative skills could be chalked up to plain old common sense, and although I enjoyed the mystery and the glimpse into another time and place, I didn't appreciate the solution to the murder being told to me at the end of the book. Take me along during the entire process. Don't lock me up in my room until it's over, then sit me down in front of the fire to tell me a story.

Occasionally the bits of Irish law, customs, clothing and language got to be a bit too much, momentarily dragging me out of the story, but I jumped back in with little trouble because I enjoyed the setting and the character of Mara so much. I look forward to reading other books in this series.

As a fan of Peter Tremayne this was recommended by the Amazon system. I was not disappointed. The author provides a good mystery that allows the heroine to provide a narrative of 16th Century Ireland. The story develops well and gives a nice introduction to the Burren region of Ireland. The Brehon law, as it applies to the events, is explained at a simple level and leaves hooks to deeper exploration. Cora Harrison does a nice job in placing you in the landscape of the area and providing insight to the culture of the time. The mystery provides detail of the area, introduces and develops several characters as well as keeping your attention.

As a fan of historical fiction, and detective fiction, a series starter which introduces a female protagonist is quite welcome. It is set in a charming part of the world (the Burren, Ireland) in a very interesting period (16th Century). The pace of the book is much like its setting - it moves at the happy wandering walk of a country farmer. Pleasant diversions to develop characters and drop hints regarding the murder mystery help to give the book its ambience. The author does quite well in giving the characters a historic feel, but unfortunately occasionally falls afoul of giving their female protagonist more modern ideas about individual freedoms and the like (in fairness, they are tempered with more reasonable old world thoughts from time to time). She also gives into a couple of rather hackneyed stereotypes - how many times must we read of a crazed, sexually frustrated priest antagonist? On the other hand, one really can empathise with the protagonist, and there are little mentions of love interest and friendly affection the like which keep the story going in slower times, and are really quite endearing.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read on the train for a few days between law texts. As a first in a series, it does a good job of setting the scene and the main character. It would be wonderful if it could be available on Kindle - some of the later books are, I understand. But some of us prefer to start from the start - and if you are looking for a new historic detective book to read, and have patience exceeding that of a teenager, you would no doubt enjoy this novel as a leading to a new series.

First of a new historical series set in early 16th century Ireland, featuring Mara, Brehon (judge and lawyer) of the Burren, a somewhat isolated area of western Ireland. When one of Mara's assistants at the law school she runs, Colman, is found stabbed to death the morning after the Beltaine celebration on the mountain, it is up to her to investigate. Before too long, she realizes that she was not the only person who didn't much like her unpleasant assistant--he was blackmailing numerous people, and thus the suspect list keeps growing longer the more Mara looks into things.

It was interesting to read this book, given that one of my favorite historical series is Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma series, featuring another Brehon but taking place nine centuries earlier. Much of the same laws were retained, and many of the Gaelic words were familiar from reading that series. There are some similarities between Mara and Fidelma, but many differences as well.

This author does a wonderful job of setting the scene, giving a real sense of place with wonderful descriptive writing. Mara's character becomes quite well drawn and defined by the end of the book, and she's a character that I definitely want to go back and visit, along with the secondary characters she's introduced us to. I quite enjoyed this, and subsequent books may even be better once I get over the comparison to Tremayne's books.

Cora Harrison is a great addition to the mystery genre and of Brehon law in particular. Her protagonist is a Brehon lawyer like Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma but a few centuries later, giving us more great Irish history and an even greater look at the law. The mystery had me fooled--she's good at misdirection. I look forward to the next, I hope, of a series.

You would never know she had been only a juvenile author!! Well written and chronicled, researched and what an insight into human behavior!
Initially, I picked up the book for it's history content, but I soon became enthralled with the character's. The amount of history "come-to-life" is incredible. I readily recommend this book to the history buffs who come into our library. Please do write many more.

I bought this book because I enjoy anything about Ireland. I was very glad I read this and look forward to other book in this series. (I hope it will be a series!) The main character's wisdom and approach to the law and solving mysteries reminded me of Precious Ramotswe in "The No 1 Ladies' Detective" series by Alexander McCall Smith. I have visited the Burren in Ireland and could picture the setting of this book, which added to my enjoyment.

According to the author's bio, Ms. Harrison began her writing career as a children's historical author, and in my opinion that's exactly where she should have stayed. Her writing style is so ridiculoulsy elementary that I wasn't even able to finish the book. Not only that, but she seems to get bogged down in lengthy descriptions of things that are utterly unimportant to the story as a whole (the neighbor's dog?!). Although I didn't finish the book and, therefore, cannot comment fully on the plot, the premise of the storyline did seem intriguing. Perhaps, then, this could be a good YA novel, but for the person who enjoys true ADULT ficition, I highly recommend passing on this one. I know I wasted my money.