Customer Reviews

Prioress' Tale (Sister Frevisse Medieval Mysteries)

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The reign of the tyrannical Domina Alys continues in this next volume of the Dame Frevisse series. The story opens with Domina Alys' relatives having infested the priory, consuming the priory's provisions, and making general and specific nuisances of themselves. Combine this with the contruction of a tower, the kidnapping of a prospective bride, Domina Alys' pettinesses and revenges, the appearance of an old "friend", and the murder seems like just another event. Margaret Frazer excels in depicting the period with great vividness and accuracy. It is a pleasure to watch events unfold and read the excellent dialog. Her characters continue to develop with Dame Frevisse becomming more tolerant of others' failings, Sister Amicia actually able to keep a coherent thought in her head, and Sister Thomasine continuing her progress toward sainthood. You WILL enjoy this book!

Margaret Frazer in The Prioress' Tale creates an interesting slice of medieval of life at the 15th century priory of St. Frideswide. The characters are ones you will want to meet again in other books.

Domina Alys is single minded, mean spirited and petty in her vision of an improved priory. Those who do not join forces with her are her enemies, chief among them is protagonist, Sister Frevisse an intelligent and likable nun who is much worried about the downward direction the priory is taking. She rightly believes that nothing is as it seems to be.

The mystery itself almost seems secondary to the story of the characters and the priory. Frazer slowly builds to the mystery. In fact, the murder does not occur until late in the book. There are other secrets to be revealed besides "whodunit".

This is a good quick read and I am looking forward to reading other Margaret Frazer books in the Sister Frevisse series.

In 1439, Prioress Domina Alys of St. Frideswide's Abbey decides that the only way she can save her abbey is to bring in new novices and to find wealthy patrons to pay for the renovation and expansion of the facility. The other sisters, especially Sister Frevisse, loathe Alys' tyrannical leadership. To Alys, the sisters do not appreciate all she is doing to save the facility. She blames it on the lackadaisical leadership of the previous two Prioress, who were more preoccupied with God than the day to day running of an Abbey.

To make matters worse, at least in the mind of Sister Frevisse, Alys allows her relatives, the violent and argumentative, but rich Godfreys to stay as guests. However, Alys may yet regret her decision when the long feuding family squabble turns to murder as one of the guests is killed. Sister Frevisse investigates the case, not knowing that she places herself and the abbey is jeopardy from a killer who prefers to remain anonymous.

The seventh Sister Frevisse mystery is a well written Medieval who-done-it, though not quite on the level of its predecessors (all are excellent novels). The story line is interesting, especially its fifteenth century background. Sister Frevisse is one of the best amateur sleuths of any era, but new readers to the series will not gain the richness of the characters as previously described in this series earlier works. Fans of the historical mystery Medieval novels will, however, enjoy Margaret Frazer's latest novel, THE PRIORESS TALE and shouldn't pass it by.

Harriet Klausner

This is by far the best book so far in this series. The medieval flavour is very strong and the characterizations are quite wonderful. The mystery itself is an easy one to figure out and the actual murder does not occur until the near the end of the book, but the plot leading up to this is very vivid and has the right atmosphere and sense of time and place. In this book we see Sister Frevisse at odds with the prioress in her convent. She must fight against her dislike and distrust of Dame Alys in order to be able to deal with the problems beseiging St. Frideswide's. Not only are Dame Alys' many relatives taxing the nunnery's provisions with their extended stay, but the relatives also bring danger to St. Frideswide's. Sister Frevisse must be her sharpest to forestall the imminent dangers that keep cropping up.

I truly enjoy Margaret Frazer's books. She makes you feel as though you are living in Medieval times, imbibing the history and the atmosphere of the time without the necessity of dry history books. He characters and plots are engaging. Definitely, one of my favorite authors.

Margaret Frazer continues the tyrantical rule of Domina Alys in THE PRIORESS' TALE. The peace of St. Frideswide has been destroyed by her relatives that have taken up residence in the guest halls and the workmen who are attempting to build a tower without stone.
The list of sins laid at Domina Alys' door is long: spending money they do not have, feeding her relatives from the precious stores of scant food as they face a hard winter after a poor harvest, kidnapping a young girl to force her into marriage, and murder.
Domina Alys was a poor accidental choice as the nunnary declines and no one can change her course.
An open window to the medieval world where power in the wrong hands destroys the good. This one has some very cruel scenes that are only lightened for Dame Frevisse with the advent of an old friend.
Nash Black, author of SANDPRINTS OF DEATH

Every book in this series is a bit different, from the POV to the ending. Good read.