The Outcast Dove: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery (Catherine Levendeur Mysteries) [Paperback]

Sharan Newman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Catherine Levendeur Mysteries | Publication Date: July 7, 2009

Catherine Le Vendeur's curiosity and passion for justice have sometimes led her to solve grisly murders and brave horrors... but this time the threat is to those she loves.

Catherine's family business relies on her cousin Solomon to negotiate the treacherous path to riches. The fact that Solomon is her cousin is secret, however, because he's Jewish--and if their family connections were discovered, it could mean ruin or death. When Solomon's father, who rejected Judaism for the more socially acceptable Christianity, asks for his help, Solomon must come to a decision about who he is, and where he really belongs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a surprising twist, Newman's ninth engrossing medieval historical (after 2002's Heresy) features not her usual heroine, Catherine LeVendeur, a French Catholic woman (with concealed Jewish lineage), but Catherine's earthy and virile cousin, Solomon though she keeps their connection quiet because Solomon was raised Jewish. When Christians seize a young Jewish woman during the conquest of the Spanish city of Almeira, Solomon joins the rescue party. En route, he encounters his reviled father, Jacob, who has converted to Catholicism and is now a monk called Brother James. James is on an oddly similar mission to ransom Catholic knights captured by Muslims. When a fellow monk dies in what appears to be a random attack, James, who's carrying the ransom money, fears he may be the killer's next target. Will the son he abandoned help him? Solomon's struggles between his Jewish heritage and his attachment to things secular will resonate with many readers, while the author's intriguing picture of a crusade-laden world with its battles among Jew, Catholic and Muslim is all too relevant and recognizable. FYI: Newman has won the Romantic Times Bookclub's Career Achievement Award for Historical Mystery (1999).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Solomon, cousin to Catherine Le Venduer in previous Newman mysteries, travels from Paris to Toulouse in medieval France. He intends to visit his uncle, who is studying with scholars at the synagogue, but instead runs into his father, who has renounced his Jewish faith and is now not only a monk with the Christian name James but a convert believing that Jews are the root of evil. As Solomon sets off on a quest to rescue a captured Jewish girl forced into prostitution by monks in Spain, his group is joined by Brother James', which is traveling to Spain to ransom knights held by the Moslems. Murders along the way begin to form a pattern as the Christians and Jews, usually separated by fear and distrust, band together. A truly fascinating perspective on medieval life, Newman's latest brings to life the hardships Jews faced when simply trying to practice their faith. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765309572
• ISBN-13: 978-0765309570
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,116,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars readers will feel like they were transported back to 1148, November 26, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Outcast Dove: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery (Catherine Levendeur Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Catherine LeVendeur's cousin Solomon is on his way to Almeria to pick up their share of the investment that the ship brings in. He stops at Toluse where he has many friends including Aaron who wants the leader to rescue his betrothed who was sold into sexual bondage after the Christians invaded Almeria. Solomon agrees to rescue the woman he knew as a baby but before he leaves someone killed a monk who gave bags of gold to ransom the girl, money that was meant to free Christian soldiers held by the Saracens.

When he finally leaves the city, he is in a caravan that includes his Sire Brother James, a Christian fanatic who hates all Jews. One the road, Samuel who came along for the adventure is also murdered. Brother James thinks the two deaths are connected. The murder of one of their mercenary knights affirms his belief. Nov he has to prove it.

Unlike the rest of the novels in this series, Catherine LeVendeur doesn't make an appearance and her husband Edgar is in one chapter. Readers get a chance to see how Solomon lives when he is away from his causes keeping his trading business alive. Rich in historical detail and fascinating characters, readers will feel like they were transported back to 1148.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Missing Catherine, November 16, 2004

By 

InkSpot (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Outcast Dove: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery (Catherine Levendeur Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I'm a huge fan of the Catherine LeVendeur mysteries series but had a hard time getting into this one. Since this one focused on Solomon however I found myself a bit bored with the story. Solomon is just not as interesting a character as Catherine, and does not have enough charisma to carry an entire story.

The story line and research are still well done, and as a whole, this is a good book of historical fiction.

4.0 out of 5 stars Catherine is absent in this one...., August 26, 2010

By 

Cheryl A. Reynolds "Spuddie" (Minneapolis, MN, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Outcast Dove: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery (Catherine Levendeur Mysteries) (Paperback)

#9 Catherine LeVendeur mystery set in medieval France. Actually in this book, Catherine doesn't figure much at all except for the fact that she is related to some of the players--Solomon, her cousin, is the main character in this one. He is traveling around as usual as a merchant, but it's more precarious than usual. Solomon is a Jew, and things are getting more tough and more restrictive for the Jews. Catherine, a Christian, keeps secret the fact that Solomon is her cousin--officially he is her husband Edgar's business partner and nothing more. She isn't ashamed of him but keeps their association minimal for the sake of their family, as there is real danger in even being associated with Jews.

Catherine's father used to run the business but decided to renounce the Christianity he had been raised in and go back to his Jewish roots, and is now studying as a scholar. On this trip, Solomon not only encounters his uncle Hubert (Catherine's father) but also his real father, James--a Christian convert who is rabidly attempting to convert other Jews, or to condemn them, and Jehan, a knight who was formerly acquainted with the LeVendeurs in Paris and now hires out as a mercenary/guard. When a young monk is brutally beaten and a teenage Jewish girl disappears, the authorities suspect and question several members of the Jewish community, and Catherine's family's lives are in mortal danger. She knows little of this, as she is back in Paris, heavy with child, with Edgar at her side instead of accompanying Solomon on this trip.

It's funny, in the foreward the author mentions Catherine's absence and says she knows those who love the series will miss her--I actually didn't! I like Solomon much better. I love this series in general, but Catherine wears on my nerves after awhile, so it was actually refreshing not to have her in the book. There's only one more in this series, and I plan to finish it off before the end of the year.