Peter Tremayne

In this seventh installment, Fidelma seems to have come into her own. Tremayne doesn't need to remind us as often that she is a dalaigh, sister to the King, etc., etc. The mystery here has all the right ingredients: a robbery, an assassination plot, political intrigue, multiple locations, shady-but-not-really characters and wholesome-but-not-really characters. It was a good time, and I'll admit being a bit surprised at the end, which is a bonus! The violence seems to be greater than in show more previous books, but not particularly gory. The relationship between Fidelma and Eadulf grows (slowly) more complex, and there are good passages wherein Eadulf clearly has to grapple with the pagan ideas that inform and are present in medieval Irish Christianity (for some, it turns out), but Tremayne never gets too heavy-handed with the theological musings, so they are important bits of context, not the story itself. I still get mildly frustrated (as do some of the characters) with the final court/tribunal scene (in many of the books) wherein Fidelma relishes the slooooooooooow reveal, but there's enough elsewhere to make this a worthwhile and engaging read. show less

This is the best Sister Fidelma book I've read in years! I love this series because of its authenticity. This book is set in 664 AD and contrary to other books this book is not sequential. Instead we go back to Fidelma just after she has left Rome after solving a puzzling murder there. She is on her way home from Italy, and makes a detour to go to an abbey to visit her old mentor who is dying. Here she finds that her old mentor is grievously injured, and she uncovers a web of murder and lies show more tied in with the political upheaval occurring in the beautiful valley of Trebbia. This is an "edge of the seat" thriller with Fidelma alone trying to figure out what's going on. She is at a disadvantage because she does not speak the local language and she doesn't know who to trust. This is a wonderful historical mystery series that just keeps on delivering. No wonder that there is an active international Sister Fidelma society. It's hard not to get drawn in to Mr. Tremayne's wonderful ancient world. show less

NOTE: Small spoiler ahead.

"...you would do well to remember that this land is not separated from the rest of the world, but shares the sins of humanity in equal proportion. "(137)

These words, uttered by the character of Brother Dangila, are but a sample of the increased depth in this installment of the Sister Fidelma series. Brother Dangila and two of his colleagues are three "strangers" from the Kingdom of Aksum, which reached its greatest power in the sixth century, and had begun to show more decline in the time of Fidelma. The Kingdom occupied what is now Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, and parts of modern Sudan, if internet maps are correct. The book (rather gently) brings in themes of racism and xenophobia, and it the quote above is one moment where even Fidelma must confront her implicit biases.

The plot develops rather slowly, but there's a lot more nuance built into Fidelma's character, not only in the way she uses her role as a dálaigh as a coping mechanism as she is experiencing postpartum depression but also how she really is interrogating her multiple identities as an emblem of jurisprudence, sister to the king, and now, a mother (apologies if you read the series out of order). There are perhaps a few too many characters and families to keep track of, but most intriguing are Liag the apothecary and Conrí, war chief of the Uí Fidgente. And there are, of course, the customary hothead soldiers/warriors that seem to feature in all the books. The plot has many twists and turns, but generally was not enough to hold my interest. Luckily, I was so surprised by the next-level themes in this particular book, that I kept going. The book ends (the epilogue, anyway) on a cliffhanger...the mark of a true and secure serial!

It has been rewarding to read the series in order because one gets the sense that Tremayne is trying things on for size. I hope the greater character development and depth continues to be part of this series. show less

Sister Fidelma brings her Irish trained legal mind and personal feistiness to Rome where it goes head on with more fusty and traditional 7th century church thinking. Good look at Ancient Rome during the first of what would become many conflicts with Muslim mentality. Early locked room mystery within the Papal State as she and her Saxon cohort, Eadolf, must reconcile Irish thinking, Saxon traditions and Roman Church conventions to produce the villains.