Customer Reviews

Wine of Violence (Poisoned Pen Press Mysteries)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a book from a new writer who has got closer than most to the true atmosphere of life in a medieval religious community. If you enjoy mysteries set in medieval days, give this one a try. The characters are solid and believable. The settings and dialogue are well-researched and accurate.

It's difficult, when you write a book about a time several hundred years ago, to portray accurately the feeling of a very different time while realizing that human nature is basically much the same now as it was then. There were greedy people, lazy people, untrustworthy people. We know the type, we see them and their effects every day. What we don't see is a huge section of the population desperately clinging to religion to save them from the fires of hell. The writer straddles this dichotomy very well.

Her characters are so well realized that I'm hoping to meet many of them again in future books

Although Royal's debut novel does not quite deliver, it holds considerable promise for the future.

The circumstances of the murder are intriguing, but the solution is mundane. The ending is flat, but I won't say exactly why, because you don't want spoilers in a review.

The heroine, the young Prioress Eleanor, is interesting and likeable. The way the sleuthing skills are divided between three of the characters is odd, and not altogether satisfactory.

The author uses Modern English, as one would expect, except for the curious use of the word 'cert'. So, when asked if anyone suspected a monk of murder, a character says, "Some did, for cert". It happens a few times, and is quite jarring. Also, the dialogue is often inappropriate for the speaker. A serving girl, talking of a prioress and a brother, says, "Neither seemed comfortable in dealings with the secular world", and so on, totally out of character. More editorial effort is required, and then perhaps Eleanor and company will deliver more satisfying adventures.

I've been reading a number of fine medieval mysteries but this one happens to be one the finest. Ms. Royal's debut, The Wine of Violence is an excellent first. It is winter of the year 1270 in a remote part of East Anglican coast. A new young prioress takes over an abbey frought with superstition, intrigue and murder. A monk's body is found to be mutilated in the garden. Politics, lust and the true goodness of the human spirit are abound in The Wine of Violence. It will bring a tear to the eye. A story that will stay with you. A must read.

This first effort from Priscilla Royal in the Prioress Eleanor series is a good book. The second in the series is a very good book, and the third (which is as far as I have read yet) is an *extremely* good book.

With each installment, Royal's narrative voice grows more confident and graceful. This first one relies a bit too heavily on characters talking out loud to themselves to reveal their thoughts, but this tendency eases up in the later novels. Otherwise, even in her first book, her technique is solid and the story moves along smartly, with no reliance on stereotype and a willingness to let the characters - and their judgment of other characters - evolve. Royal writes with compassion, intelligence, and historicity.

Royal's setting is thirteenth-century Britain, and hers are not the only convent-based mystery books to use this setting. However, they are among the best. She uses the "double house" setting - a convent which holds both female and male religious - and, in a break from all the series I know, immediately introduces a bisexual major character whose main orientation is to a person of their own gender. Well! We've been waiting for THIS for a long time! Thank you, Ms. Royal.

And thanks to her also for the detailed postscript, providing historical context and a bibliography for those so entranced with her fiction that they want to track down the facts.

Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma series is set in a double house convent in Ireland, and while the Sister Fidelma books are intriguing, I think I may prefer Priscilla Royal's Prioress Eleanor.

Other medieval mystery writers I favor are, first and foremost always, Margaret Frazer for her two series (Dame Frevisse and Joliffe) and close on her heels, Roberta Gellis for her Magdalene la Batarde books, even though the later episodes in that series are small-press editions and almost impossible to find. Now, Royal is giving Gellis heavy competition for my #2 spot.

Other good bodies of work you might like if you like Prioress Eleanor include the Brother Cadfael books by Ellis Peters and Sharon Kay Penman's medieval novels. Fiona Buckley writes the Ursula Blanchard series which is set about 300 years later, but still probably a good choice for someone who enjoys Priscilla Royal's series.

I don't mention all these others to divert you from the Prioress Eleanor books. I mention them to show you the kind of lofty literary company Priscilla Royal is entitled to keep in this genre. Applause, applause!

In the civil war between King Henry III and Simon de Montfort, Eleanor of Wynethorpe's family sided with the king. Eleanor's brother is a close friend of Prince Edward and her mother is a dear friend of the queen. As a reward for loyal service to the crown, Eleanor is appointed prioress of Tyndale Priory. This political reward is resented by the sisters and monks who reside there. Not long after Eleanor steps foot on the priory Brother Rubert is murdered.

Brother Thomas, who is at the priory to find out why their financial solvency has dwindled, becomes involved in the murder inquiry. When he is attacked and left for dead, Eleanor believes the same person is responsible for the murder and the attack. Life turns more dangerous when someone tries to attack the prioress in her sleeping quarters. Using people she trusts, a trap is baited to catch a killer.

WINE OF VIOLENCE is a fascinating look at medieval life in the year 1270 during the reign of King Henry III. Readers read about sexual predators enjoying the largesse of the Catholic Church and how secular choices are made for religious appointments. Priscilla Royal is a talented storyteller entertains and educates her audience with this regal historical.

Harriet Klausner

Wine of Violence
by Priscilla Royal

Eleanor of Wynethorpe, daughter of one of King Henry III's most favored barons, is appointed prioress of Tyndal, a small branch of the prestigious, powerful Fontevraud monastery. She is only twenty, very young for the post, and it is no surprise that her capabilities are mistrusted and her appointment resented. Worst of all, upon her arrival, first one than two more murders occur, and Eleanor must deal with a now terrified flock.

Brother Thomas, a young priest with a troubled past, also has just arrived at Tyndal. The wary but increasingly respectful relationship between the young prioress and priest sets the tone for the story's theme of destructive and redemptive love. Further complicating the plot are class distinctions within the monastery, and the over 200 year mistrust of the Saxon villagers toward the predominately Norman aristocratic clergy.

The Order of Fontevraud was one of the rare orders of double houses where a woman was in charge of both male and female monastics. The mother house was in France: there were four daughter houses in England.

The author does a credible job attempting to recreate the design of a double house monastery, as well as its surrounding village on the remote East Anglian coast. In her Forward she notes that some of the most independent, highly educated and powerful women in history lived during the medieval time, and that in some orders nuns had relative freedom and awareness of secular life. Yet, Eleanor and her sister nuns are held back by the commonly held belief of many monks that women were incapable of deep thought, and that it was "unnatural for Adam to be ruled by Eve."

The lengthy Forward explains the Fontevraud Order, its famous female devotees, and elements of period social life that allow for a greater appreciation of the story. This is the first of two Eleanor of Wynethorpe mysteries.

For those that love a good mystery, for those that love history accurately portrayed, this is the book to own. A wonderfully entertaining read. Hopefully, I look forward to further adventures of Eleanor, Anne, Thomas and the cat.

This is a book from a new writer who has got closer than most to the true atmosphere of life in a medieval religious community. If you enjoy mysteries set in medieval days, give this one a try. The characters are solid and believable. The settings and dialogue are well-researched and accurate.

It's difficult, when you write a book about a time several hundred years ago, to portray accurately the feeling of a very different time while realizing that human nature is basically much the same now as it was then. There were greedy people, lazy people, untrustworthy people. We know the type, we see them and their effects every day. What we don't see is a huge section of the population desperately clinging to religion to save them from the fires of hell. The writer straddles this dichotomy very well.

Her characters are so well realized that I'm hoping to meet many of them again in future books.

In this first novel in her series author Priscilla Royal decided to take some chances and be different from most medieval mystery novels out there. Unfortunately for me she went in directions I didn't enjoy.

First, there isn't much of a "mystery" here in the usual sense. Yes there were murders, but there didn't seem to be enough suspects and there was definitely a lack of clues. This story just sort of ambled along, was solved, and then was over. As a reader I was not engaged in solving the mystery at all. I was certainly underwhelmed by the revelation of who the guilty party was and why. It had seemed so patently obvious that I kept waiting for the plot twist that would prove me wrong. Not what I look for in a mystery novel.

Secondly, the author decided to make these characters who consisted mostly of nuns and monks be very earthy, worldly people for the most part. Her justifications for doing this are stated in the beginning of the book and I do understand where she was coming from, but that doesn't mean that I enjoyed reading about the sexuality issues of nuns and monks. Certainly not in a mystery novel. Yet that is the pivotal concept in this novel. Tyndal Priory was a double house, meaning that there were both monks and nuns serving there, but the head of the Priory was female, an unusual situation which was, nevertheless, historically accurate. It really did bother me when the Prioress, a twenty year old woman who had been at Tyndal Priory for little more than a day instantly felt lust for a monk when he walked into the room. And then all we read about was how she was having erotic dreams and fantasies about the monk. Then the focus switched to the monk who was having memories, dreams, and fantasies of a sexual nature himself. Add to that the fact that everything that happened was approached from one sexual angle or another and you just had a novel which wasn't what I was looking for.

This was not the right book for me. I will not be pursuing any other novels in the series. If what I've described sounds interesting to you, then I would urge you to read the book. I read this on my Kindle and I'm exceedingly glad I paid less than one dollar for it.

An very enjoyable medieval mystery to pass a winter's evening.

I found "Wine of Violence" to be an excellent blend of lush language, well-researched history, and worthwhile characters. While other reviewers have had issue with Ms. Royal's language and characters, I found them refreshing and transportive. The braiding of the storylines that follow the political assignment to the position of Prioress to young Eleanor of Wynethorpe and her challenges to assume that position, the struggles of Brother Thomas as a prisoner freed by a mysterious benefactor and now in essence forced to be a priestly spy, along with the actual mystery beginning with the murder of a priest found in the middle of the cloister, come together for an unusual and enjoyable read.

Characters, pacing, description and historical grounding make this well-worth four stars. The actual plot of the murder mystery, however, was a bit too foreshadowed and anticipated for my tastes, with the climax just a little bumpy in comparison to the rest of the offering - I'm chalking this up to being one of Ms. Royal's early works, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.