Ariana Franklin (1933–2011)

"Mistress of the Art of Death" by Ariana Franklin was a group read here on LT...The Highly Rated Book Group sponsored it, with the game-though-gravid Vintage_Books leading us through some very trenchant questions about our impressions of both the book and the world it's set in...and thank goodness for that! It's a lot more fun to read a book in a group of like-minded people, ones who read on multiple levels like our brethren and sistern here on this site.

Adelia Vesuvia, our sleuth, is a show more forensic physician in a time when I didn't know such existed. The twelfth century is a time period I find extremely fascinating. I've read a fair bit about this time, focusing on English and French history and the Crusades (those horrific events!); Catholic Church history at this time, when the schism from Eastern Orthodoxy was new and the invention of religious primacy in matters of the state was being consolidated, is also an interest of mine.

This book's evocation of that time is appealing to me precisely because it's relatively new to my somewhat jaded sensibilities. Salerno as the primary focus of Western medicine is a well-trodden path; the fact that Salernitan physicians could be women is not well-trodden, and the simple IDEA of forensics in this time...! Irresistable pulls for me, the historian-who-hated-school.

So I was disposed from the giddy-up to like the book. The author's execution was the primary unknown quantity for me. I am thrilled and delighted with the execution because the characters, while displaying anachronistic ideas and ideals, are quite believably constructed and supplied with plausible motivations for their divergent social attitudes. I can willingly suspend my disbelief at every turn where the story requires me to do so. That's very high praise from me!

Characterization, in a series mystery, is make-or-break. Do I, the reader, like this group of people enough to continue inviting them out to dinner? (The price of a hardcover book being equivalent to the price of an entree at a tablecloth restaurant; the trade paper to an entree at Applebee's or TGIFriday's; the rack-size to a value meal at the local McDonald's; which restaurant am I willing to take these characters to?) The answer, while unique to each individual, is the source of the publisher's and author's income. It behooves all parties to the preparation and publication of a mystery to consider this. The good people at Putnam, now a tentacle of the Penguin empire, have done a very very good job of making this assessment and bringing a solid, interesting cast of regulars to my table at Le Cirque.

Sir Rowley, Adelia Vesuvia's English suitor, is a fine example. He's three dimensional in his pursuit of her, not simply presented as out to get some one thing; I think of some of the characters in Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael mysteries as contrasts to this quality of characterization. We're given to understand that Sir Rowley has goals and ambitions that Adelia Vesuvia can both forward and threaten in equal measure. His ultimate place in her life, and her in his, isn't a foregone conclusion. Both characters are presented as struggling with what the other means to them on multiple planes. That's just plain good storytelling. It will keep me buying hardcovers as long as Franklin keeps doing it.

The minor characters, eg Gyltha the housekeeper and Mansur the Moor, are deftly drawn as well. They don't, in contrast to many series mysteries, come across as convenient mouth-pieces for the author's needed plot developments. (*cough*PhryneFisher'sDot*cough*)

Finally, the integration of real political developments like Henry II's move to take control of the Church's legal framework in his empire, is seamless enough to take a moment to recall as factual instead of created. It's necessary to move this plot forward. But it's also the historical reality. Well done, madam! Seldom achieved in fiction, still less the less-respected "genre" fiction that mysteries are published as.

This is a four-and-a-half star recommended book. Sally forth and procure it from yon bookery. show less

I loved this book and I had a hard time with it. I loved the very believable settings, the embedded history lessons on how the politics of the time worked, the tensions between people who live and die in a 5 mile area and the transplants from hundreds of miles away. I love the plucky heroine, and the mental puzzle of transplanting modern forensics into a medieval setting. Is that part of the book realistic? No. Not even a little bit. Does it make for an excellent thriller? Oh yeah, just show more don't think too hard about it. show less

After the deaths of four Cambridge children and subsequent accusations against the town’s Jewish community, King Henry II requests help from the King of Sicily, and a team is sent to investigate. One member of that team is a doctor with expertise in “the art of death.” That doctor also happens to be a woman, a fact that must be kept a closely guarded secret since women were not allowed to practice medicine in medieval England. Her name is Adelia, and along with comrades Simon and show more Mansur, they pull of the deception and, ultimately, get to the bottom of the murders. But not without plenty of drama and surprising plot twists.

I enjoyed the historic setting, which was rich with period detail. I also loved Adelia’s character, a strong woman facing staggering male opposition, but also vulnerable in ways that make her even more appealing. The strong supporting cast sets the stage for the rest of the series, and I know it won’t belong before I read the next book. show less

I enjoy this mystery series for its strong female protagonist and its setting during the reign of King Henry II, but unfortunately, this installment fell short. King Henry charges Adelia Aguilar with watching over his daughter Joanna's health during her procession to Italy to meet her future husband. Things start going wrong right away, and the reader is almost immediately clued into the presence of a figure from the previous book, who was presumed dead. It took forever to identify the show more evildoer in their midst, and the reveal felt anticlimactic. The development of Adelia's storyline kept me interested and left me hanging off the cliff, so I will definitely return for the final book in the series. show less