To Wear The White Cloak: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery [Hardcover]

Sharan Newman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2000

The seventh installment of Sharan Newman's critically acclaimed Catherine LeVendeur medieval mystery series, To Wear the White Cross continues the story of this most remarkable woman and her unique family. Set against the backdrop of twelfth century France, Catherine's life is both a reflection of the bonds placed upon a woman in her society and the ways in which a strong personality could triumph and succeed in spite of those strictures. Catherine is an independent spirit, fiercely loyal to both her faith and her family, and that loyalty will be sorely tested when a Knight Templar is discovered brutally murdered after Catherine and her family return to France after a long absence. Catherine's closely held secret about her family's Jewish roots are threatened to be revealed and ultimately it falls upon Catherine to discover the person who would kill a soldier of God and why Catherine's family would be targeted in such a horrendous fashion.

Filled with fascinating details of medieval life and the intricate interplay between the Christian and Jewish cultures of the time, To Wear the White Cross is a compelling mystery and a riveting historical rolled into one.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With its attention to detail, depth of research and well-developed characters, this seventh book in Newman's Catherine LeVendeur series should delight fans of her medieval mysteries. In a simple prologue, three menAa lord, a miller and a servantAset out on Easter from their small French village to join the Knights of the Temple and King Louis's expedition to rid the Holy Land of the Saracens. Meanwhile, Catherine and her extended family arrive in Paris, expecting to find their house aired and ready for them. Instead there's moldy and rancid food in the kitchen and the decaying body of a murdered man, wearing the white cloak of the Knights of the Temple, in the counting room. Fearful that certain family secrets are at risk of exposure, Catherine, her husband, Edgar, and her cousin, Solomon, determine to discover the man's identity and his murderer. Thus begins a story that will bring the three pilgrims and Catherine's clan together and change their lives forever. Besides providing an intriguing mystery, the author touches on such large issues of life in 12th-century France as Jewish-Christian relations, the restrictions and obligations imposed by a rigid class order and the health hazards faced by craftsmen, as well as more personal matters of housekeeping, child rearing and birth control. Seasoned with wit and humor, this is a recommended read for mystery lovers and historical devotees alike. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A brilliant series, sparkling with historical tidbits and insight."--Chicago Sun-Times

"Reading a Sharan Newman novel is like journeying back to medieval times. The sights and sounds of Paris are so vividly described that they mesmerize the reader as they enjoy a fine tale of mystery."-Romantic Times (4 ½ stars)

"Seasoned with wit and humor, this is a recommended read for mystery lovers and historical devotees alike." -Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (October 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312869657
• ISBN-13: 978-0312869656
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,596,062 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dead of Knight, November 5, 2000

By 

Delina E. Caldwell (Ft. Myers, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Wear The White Cloak: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery (Hardcover)

I couldn't wait for this latest installment of Sharan Newman's series featuring the clever and clumsy Catherine and her stalwart spouse Edgar, set in the 1140's, this time back in Paris. Just as with her previous novels, I was more than satisfied. I discovered Catherine and Edgar in "Cursed in the Blood" just after our return from Scotland and the north of England this summer, visiting castles of our ancestors dating from the 11th and 12th centuries, primarily. Newman has such a thorough grounding in the history of the time and yet she has the ability to bring her characters to life. I raced through all of her previous novels in the series, except for the next to last one--on order!--just prior to this one, "To Wear the White Cloak". In this latest story, Catherine and Edgar were shocked upon their return from what seems to have been a dangerous and difficult journey to Germany to find a very dead (and moldy!) Knight of the Temple locked inside her father's home. The well-educated twosome have to counter the suspicion that quickly falls on their family, as before, by solving the murder themselves. This is accomplished while they deal with the everyday issues of raising their family in health and safety, establishing themselves financially, and even struggling with moral issue of birth control. You will do yourself a favor if you begin reading Newman's books--go back and read the others--if you have an appreciation for this time period and for an excellent mystery. (Note to fans of Ellis Peters: finally, someone to (almost) fill her shoes)

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To Wear The White Cloak, October 11, 2000

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Wear The White Cloak: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery (Hardcover)

Paris in 1147 is pure mayhem. Men leaving for the holy land have converged on the city, bringing with them vagabonds and conmen smelling opportunities to gull and steal. There is also evidence that the doomsday cult, the eonisits, has arrived. Starvation seems to be rampant, and a group of ruffians is attacking the Jews. All in all not the homecoming that Catherine had hoped for!

Catherine, Edgar and family have finally made it home from Germany. However upon entering their house, they find the dead and festering body of a man garbed as one of the Templars. Catherine and Edgar naturally report this finding to the Marshall of the Knight Templars; and so it is with great outrage that they discover that they are somehow under suspicion for either knowing who committed the murder, or else witholding some vital clue of the crime. Catherine resolves to solve the mystery. However other matters keep getting in the way. She has to deal with the unsettling relationship that seems to be growing between her Jewish cousin Solomon, and Edgar's sister, Margaret; someone keeps trying to break into their house; and to cap it all, Jehan, that somewhat mad and vengeful knight from previous novels, has returned and is causing all kinds of problems by spreading rumours about Catherine and her family's involvement with witchcraft and lapsed Judaism. Too many things are getting in the way of solving the mystery of the dead Templar!

This series keeps getting better and better. The historical detail is wonderful, and the plot, while a seemingly simple one is padded with enough sub-plots to keep the reader's interest. A truly enjoyable read!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another superb installment, October 11, 2000

By 

Dean James - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Wear The White Cloak: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery (Hardcover)

I'll freely admit that this is one of my all-time favorite mystery series. Sharan Newman has the gift of creating wonderfully memorable characters and placing them in a vividly realized setting. When I read her books, I feel myself walking through the streets of mid-twelfth-century Paris with Catherine and Edgar. This latest book is a superb addition to the series. Catherine, Edgar, and their family return to Paris from a long sojourn in Germany (chronicled in THE DIFFICULT SAINT) to find a dead body in their Paris house. Who was he? and how did his body come to be left in their house? The answers to these questions prove fascinating, as usual, while Newman continues to unfold the story of her major characters. This book, like the others in the series, is richly textured, not only in the historical details, but in the emotional lives of the characters. Newman is a fine historian, as always, but she's a stunning storyteller as well.