Customer Reviews

The Tavern in the Morning.

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3 star:		(2)
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Alys Clare has written many other novels under a different name. She is able to breathe new life into the medieval period. A period of history that many novelists take as their background subject. Alys Clare lives in Kent. This is the area in which the books are set.

This is the third book in the series of medieval novels by Alys Clare. The books are set around the Abbey of Hawkenlye and the lead characters are Sir Josse d'Aquin and Helewise the Abbess of Hawkenlye. The two have a friendship which has blossomed in the first two books and in an age when celibacy was not a prerequisite of the religious orders there is always the chance that this may take a different turn. However these are by no means love stories and I would not want to put anyone off reading these books by suggesting that they are. They are murder mysteries well written and well researched.

In this particular book Sir Josse is hunting a poisoner who has been using wolf's bane to kill his victims at the local hostelry in Tonbridge. To say anymore would be to spoil the plot for the reader.

Tavern In The Morning was my first read of a medieval mystery and I truly enjoyed it. Well plotted, moves right along and is direct and to the point. Really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more from Ms. Clare.

Richard I honors his loyal knight Josse d'Acquin by giving him the house New Winnowlands. The Queen Mother Eleanor confirms the gift, which included no rent for his new home located near Tonbridge. However, with Richard overseas, John demands Josse pay rent on the property.

While struggling with his ire and what to do, Josse becomes diverted when somebody dies at the nearby inn. The knight makes it his business to clear the owner by establishing that the intended target was somebody else. When Josse tries to track that person down, he is knocked unconscious. He wakes up to see that he is being taken care of by a seven year old boy, whose mother is a lady in hiding wanted by her second cousin. Joss, who is very taken with the lady and her son, vows to protect them, even if it means sacrificing himself in the process.

Readers will get a picture of what life was like for the different classes of people in medieval England after reading THE TAVERN IN THE MORNING. The hero of this tale is a chivalrous knight, a man who takes care of those less fortunate even when it becomes dangerous and definitely inconvenient. Alys Clare knows how to spin a great historically accurate tale.

Harriet Klausner

THE TAVERN IN THE MORNING (Mystery-Josse d'Acquin-England-1190s) - G+
Clare, Alys - 3rd in series
Hodder & Stoughton, 2000, UK Hardcover - ISBN: 0340739355

First Sentence: A night of the dark moon, the bright stars concealed behind dense, low cloud heavy with chill moisture.

A man dies by poison at a local tavern and Josse d'Acquin suspects the wrong man was poisoned. He suspects a handsome nobleman may have been the intended victim. In searching out the man, Josse is rendered unconscious.

He is rescued and nursed by a young boy Ninian and, eventually, his mother Joanna who blindfolds Josse and takes him to where they are living. Joanna and Ninian are on the run from the nobleman who will stop at nothing to find them. Josse asks the help of his friend, Abbess Helewise, in keeping Ninian safe while he unravels the motives behind the mystery.

The strength of the book is the very interesting characters--although it would be best to read the series in order to understand the relationship of the two major protagonists-- the plot and the suspense. The author does create a very good sense of place, which is important to me. The story certainly doesn't go where you expect.

Clare is accurate in the major events of history, but misses on some of the more minor details. Because the plot in this, and in each of the other books by her I've read in the series so far, tends not to be the expected or usual, I very much enjoyed it.

This medieval mystery series set during the reign of an absent Richard I (the English king that was too busy glory seeking in the Middle East to really care about what was going on in the lands under his rule), is steadily becoming a firm favourite. And is a wonderful example of how a lively writing style, together with an ability to breath life into scenes and characters, is enough to keep any avid mystery addict reverted to his/her seat. You don't always need a cunning plot that is full of twists and turns, and that is full of red herring suspects to keep readers happy. An ability to tell a story, and tell it well, is all that is needed. As with previous mysteries in this Hawkenlye series, the mystery here is a rather straight forward one. And as with the other books in this series I was hooked -- I simply couldn't put the book down until I had finished it.

Once, Goody Anne was known for the bodily comforts that she provided. Now however Anne is known as the owner of a Tonridge tavern that provides tasty ale and good food. One harsh February market day however, Anne's good reputation takes a nose dive when one of her guests dies of food poisoning. At the instigation of his quiet cook, Josse d' Acquin (a frequent customer and admirer of Anne's cooking) sets off to investigate. The first thing that strikes him is that, if indeed the unfortunate guest had died of food poisoning, the dead man seems to have been the only one to have suffered the effects of the bad food. And after digging deeper, and uncovering some bits of evidence, Josse realises that the food the man had eaten been deliberately poisoned. Why would anyone want to poison a poor farmer? Determined to get to the bottom of things, Josse (with the help of Abbess Helewise of Hawkenlye Abbey) begins his investigation into this intriguing murder. And it isn't very long before he stumbles onto another perplexing mystery, and another brutal murder...

"The Tavern in the Morning" proved to be an enthralling read even if it didn't possess one of those complex storylines that keeps you guessing to the very end. This entire series deserves awards of excellence. And if I were sitting on one of those many mystery novel award boards, I'd be nominating every single one of the Hawkenlye novels for excellence. Alys Clare is an absolute wizard at setting up a scene and in bringing characters to life. Truly a brilliant read.

Throw away those Ellis Peters books. Yes, they are excellent. But these are far far better!

The Tavern in the Morning is such a refreshing read. The material is fresh, the plot is original, with several threads, and i love the way Alys Clare makes her mysteries different from the generally accepted form that mysteries should be. there are no great surprises here, just an excellent historical crime novel, with some more excellent characters, and a great setting.

She really knows her stuff, and even if the detail isn't correct (i have no way of knowing. even if it isn't, i dont care) it does have the tang of authentic detail which makes you suspect that yes, she has hit the nail on the head with her research and knowledge of the era.

The two leads (Abbess Helewise and Josse D'aquin) are two brilliant characters. They are incredibly likeable, interesting to read about, and their talents compliment each other well. They care about each other a lot, and the warmth of their friendship comes out in the writing.

There are great developments in Josse's love-life, but, unfortunately, the woman involved is haunted by mystery and death...

The climax is exciting and tense. This is another very good novel by Alys Clare, a wonderful writer. She is certainly the best writer of historical novels i have yet come across. ("The Chatter of the Maidens", her next Hawkenlye mystery, is even better!!!)

Medieval monks and nuns as detectives was certainly not one of the most obvious subgenres, and perhaps even this somewhat rarified category needs to divided. I am a great fan of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael and Margaret Frazer's Sister Frevisse. This series does not have the spirituality, and I would argue, the strong civil and moral force of those two. I also find this a little too graphic for my taste in describing death scenes. I presume the reader knows what he/she is looking for.

I originally had great hopes for this series since I initially liked the two main characters. Having finished the first three titles, I think that the plotting is a bit weak and I don't find Helwise to be convincing as a medieval abbess. In the most egregious case, she goes off in the middle of the night with a man she's not related to. I admit that I'm no history expert, but it is my understanding that in a well-run medieval religious orders, the monks and nuns were pretty carefully chaperoned. We are given to understand that Helwise is a very competent woman, we share her thoughts as she worries about her flock's conduct and I find it very difficult to believe that such a woman would do this, and even more difficult to believe that it raises no eyebrows. In addition to her sense of propriety, one would think that she would be very careful not to risk embarassing her beloved patroness, the redoubtable Eleanor of Aquitaine, who made the controversial decision to put a woman in charge of Hawkenlye Abbey.

The plotting could use a little work too. In Ashes of Elements, a man has been found dead at the edge of the forest. Everyone speculates that he has been up to something or found something in the forest that lead to his death. So our brainless characters decided to investigate AT NIGHT. Wouldn't they be more likely to find evidence in the daylight? This isn't the age of portable halogen spotlights. I realize that this is really because the author wants to have certain scenes in the book, but it's not good writing if that's the only motivation for the characters' actions.

The two main characters are also pretty cavalier about the law, having appointed themselves not only investigators but judge and jury as well. They rail at the Wicked Sheriff for his lack of concern for justice and then cover up several murders in the course of these books, sometimes under circumstances that seem to me to show very bad judgement, especially at the end of The Tavern in the Morning. I am appalled by some of the things that supposedly nice characters regard as grounds for murder. By the end, I was thinking of Dorothy Cannell's short-story spoofing Regencies, "The Family Jewels", in which the heroine reflects that while she is sensible of the honor that her fiance has done her in murdering his rival for her hand, she is just a tad nervous about his future conduct as a husband.

These are a decent read, but I don't think I'll spend my precious reading time on future volumes.