Priscilla Royal
Author of Wine of Violence
About the Author
Image credit: Wentling Studio
Series
Works by Priscilla Royal
Stone Quarry 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1944-01-01
- Gender
- female
- Education
- San Francisco State University (BA, World Literature)
- Occupations
- civil servant
- Organizations
- California Writers Club
Sisters in Crime
Mystery Writers of America - Short biography
- Priscilla grew up in British Columbia and until 2000, she worked for the Federal government in a variety of positions, all of which provided a wonderful education in the complexity of human experience and motivation. Priscilla has a degree in world literature from San Francisco State University, where she discovered the beauty of medieval literature. She is a theater fan as well as reader of history, mysteries, and fiction of lesser violence. She lives in Northern California and belongs to the California Writers Club and Sisters in Crime.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- USA
- Places of residence
- British Columbia, Canada
Northern California, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
I've been a fan of Royal's for years and this is the first time I find myself disappointed with one of her books. I've always loved how well-drawn her characters are, but here the returning characters seemed oddly flat and to just be going through the same old routine. The group of abbots around whom the mystery revolves were barely developed as individuals, which is a great pity as they seemed to be ripe for a (slightly anachronistic) Chaucerian skewering.
Despite my disappointment with this show more volume, I will continue to seek out Royal's books with the hope that the next one will return to her usual standard.
Received via NetGalley. show less
Despite my disappointment with this show more volume, I will continue to seek out Royal's books with the hope that the next one will return to her usual standard.
Received via NetGalley. show less
The harbinger of demons sweep before them!
Autumn of 1282. Prioress Eleanor, of Tyndal Priory, the faithful Sister Anne, healer and sub-infirmarian, and Brother Thomas escort Eleanor's brother Robert's pregnant wife out of the their Welsh Marcher lands into one of Robert's lesser holdings, Wynethorpe manor, just inside the English border.
Apart from the threatened difficult birth, the three are plunged into a community troubled by the supposed apparition of a ghost, the shade of a dead man, show more Hywel, the village stonemason, recently hanged! Twice! And there's a dead priest the ghastly figure was seen leaning over. Dark, demon ridden tidings indeed!
The local abbot, having "failed to exorcize this malign spirit", wants Eleanor to investigate this stark deed, to "save [the village] from this malignancy", and send the demon back to whence it came.
Well actually, half Welsh Abbot Gerald wants a bit more than that and watching Eleanor maneuver around the Abbot's other agenda is fascinating. Eleanor is unconvinced that this is an ecclesiastic matter. Brother Thomas and Sister Anne are initially, sent to "determine if death was caused by a mortal hand."
The situation becomes more complex when two more deaths follow suit.
Amidst the roiling politics of the time, what with Edward I's war against the Welsh, and beyond the troubling deaths, it was Brother Thomas I felt for. Thomas is suffering a whirlpool of emotion and guilt as he fights his natural inclinations troubling his sacred vows, indeed his very being, because of his love for the wine merchant Durant, even as he's tempted by the spice merchant Lambard. The poignancy of his repudiation of Lambard really points to his agony.
The twist being that Eleanor has her own demons to face concerning Thomas. She has been strongly attracted to him and fought those feelings fiercely, even as she goes about obeying her calling. An unspoken love that she constantly battles.
When Eleanor finally realizes Thomas' proclivities she fears for him. The times were becoming more dangerous for men like Thomas. Along with this comes the realization that "her love over time had grown far more complex than lust."
Always a strong advocate for justice, Eleanor has her hands full and I suspect in future sequences, despite being sworn to her life's path, her heart will be heavy.
An intriguing novel of murder, beliefs, politics, love and practices in medieval England.
A Poisoned Pen ARC via NetGalley show less
Autumn of 1282. Prioress Eleanor, of Tyndal Priory, the faithful Sister Anne, healer and sub-infirmarian, and Brother Thomas escort Eleanor's brother Robert's pregnant wife out of the their Welsh Marcher lands into one of Robert's lesser holdings, Wynethorpe manor, just inside the English border.
Apart from the threatened difficult birth, the three are plunged into a community troubled by the supposed apparition of a ghost, the shade of a dead man, show more Hywel, the village stonemason, recently hanged! Twice! And there's a dead priest the ghastly figure was seen leaning over. Dark, demon ridden tidings indeed!
The local abbot, having "failed to exorcize this malign spirit", wants Eleanor to investigate this stark deed, to "save [the village] from this malignancy", and send the demon back to whence it came.
Well actually, half Welsh Abbot Gerald wants a bit more than that and watching Eleanor maneuver around the Abbot's other agenda is fascinating. Eleanor is unconvinced that this is an ecclesiastic matter. Brother Thomas and Sister Anne are initially, sent to "determine if death was caused by a mortal hand."
The situation becomes more complex when two more deaths follow suit.
Amidst the roiling politics of the time, what with Edward I's war against the Welsh, and beyond the troubling deaths, it was Brother Thomas I felt for. Thomas is suffering a whirlpool of emotion and guilt as he fights his natural inclinations troubling his sacred vows, indeed his very being, because of his love for the wine merchant Durant, even as he's tempted by the spice merchant Lambard. The poignancy of his repudiation of Lambard really points to his agony.
The twist being that Eleanor has her own demons to face concerning Thomas. She has been strongly attracted to him and fought those feelings fiercely, even as she goes about obeying her calling. An unspoken love that she constantly battles.
When Eleanor finally realizes Thomas' proclivities she fears for him. The times were becoming more dangerous for men like Thomas. Along with this comes the realization that "her love over time had grown far more complex than lust."
Always a strong advocate for justice, Eleanor has her hands full and I suspect in future sequences, despite being sworn to her life's path, her heart will be heavy.
An intriguing novel of murder, beliefs, politics, love and practices in medieval England.
A Poisoned Pen ARC via NetGalley show less
In Priscilla Royal’s ninth Prioress Eleanor mystery, The Sanctity of Hate, it is the summer of 1276 and the peace of Tyndal Priory has been disturbed by the discovery of a corpse in the millpond. Suspicion falls on a family of Jewish refugees and it is up to Prioress Eleanor to discover the murderer before the once tranquil village erupts into violence.
The greatest strength of Royal’s medieval mystery novels has always been her attention to historical detail and her latest book lives up show more to that tradition. Unlike many historical writers, Royal does not dump a mountain of facts on her readers in an effort to show off how much research she has done; instead, she subtly incorporates details of medieval life into the narrative, leaving the reader with a feel for the period without overburdening them with extraneous information.
This skill for historical situations truly shines in The Sanctity of Hate in the interactions between the Christian inhabitants of Tyndal and the Jewish refugees. Royal’s characters do not fall into the evil Christian/persecuted Jew stereotype that plagues so many historical novels. Nor does she give her characters 21st century sensibilities. She creates characters that are complex and compassionate, but still display the beliefs that are appropriate to the period.
On the negative side, the book’s central mystery isn’t as well developed as it could be. The investigation sometimes feels like it is intruding on the characters’ interactions and the murderer’s identity and motive are not very difficult to deduce. Luckily, it’s easy to get swept up in the rest of the story and overlook this minor flaw.
Received via NetGalley.
Originally written for The Tiger Print. I am the author of the review and it is reprinted with permission. show less
The greatest strength of Royal’s medieval mystery novels has always been her attention to historical detail and her latest book lives up show more to that tradition. Unlike many historical writers, Royal does not dump a mountain of facts on her readers in an effort to show off how much research she has done; instead, she subtly incorporates details of medieval life into the narrative, leaving the reader with a feel for the period without overburdening them with extraneous information.
This skill for historical situations truly shines in The Sanctity of Hate in the interactions between the Christian inhabitants of Tyndal and the Jewish refugees. Royal’s characters do not fall into the evil Christian/persecuted Jew stereotype that plagues so many historical novels. Nor does she give her characters 21st century sensibilities. She creates characters that are complex and compassionate, but still display the beliefs that are appropriate to the period.
On the negative side, the book’s central mystery isn’t as well developed as it could be. The investigation sometimes feels like it is intruding on the characters’ interactions and the murderer’s identity and motive are not very difficult to deduce. Luckily, it’s easy to get swept up in the rest of the story and overlook this minor flaw.
Received via NetGalley.
Originally written for The Tiger Print. I am the author of the review and it is reprinted with permission. show less
Priscilla Royal has brought her fine historical and story-telling skills to a heartbreaking and complex period in medieval England: the treatment of Jews under Edward I. What I love best about Royal’s mysteries is their ability to hold me in captivated enjoyment while encompassing a subtle and nuanced historical world. She never simplifies the issues and ideas we can glean from the period, but your reading never feels burdened by this sophistication and depth.
Lord knows, the persecution show more of Jews in Edward’s England could get dreary in the hands of a lesser writer. Or it could get preachy or utterly anachronistic with characters spouting modern tolerant views to assuage the author’s discomfort at presenting such a shameful moment in time. Royal avoids these pitfalls. Over the course of this series Royal has developed two profoundly admirable human beings in Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas. Both are flawed and wracked with doubts, which makes them all the more likeable and their failures forgivable. Since we trust these two to act from justice and kindness in the long run, when they choose to stand up for and protect a Jewish family at risk of mob violence, we do not find this surprising. And lest we fear modern sensibilities have slipped in, even these most compassionate characters express a fervent desire for the conversion of these Jews as the ultimate best thing for them. That’s as far as the good medieval Christian heart can go and Royal recognizes that it is a kindness in its time, however harsh it may feel to most modern minds. Thomas, with his inner doubts about God and his innate outsider status as a man drawn to love other men at a time when that was viewed as a sin, comes close at times to recognizing that his and Eleanor’s goodwill is too conditional and circumscribed, but he never voices those doubts aloud.
On one level there’s the excitement of sorting out who is murdering people in Tyndal and the intense project of keeping safe this Jewish family while investigating them as the most popular nominees for suspects. The reader also savors a completely unconventional love tale which will have you biting nails, wanting to slap both the man and the woman involved for their foolishness and somehow liking them immensely at the same time. Isn’t that how real people are? Oh, and if lately you’ve been thinking about the limitations of faith, the beauty of bee-keeping and the natural world, the violence of controlling parenting, or, of course, the sanctity of hate, you’ll find plenty to ponder in this book while enjoying yourself. show less
Lord knows, the persecution show more of Jews in Edward’s England could get dreary in the hands of a lesser writer. Or it could get preachy or utterly anachronistic with characters spouting modern tolerant views to assuage the author’s discomfort at presenting such a shameful moment in time. Royal avoids these pitfalls. Over the course of this series Royal has developed two profoundly admirable human beings in Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas. Both are flawed and wracked with doubts, which makes them all the more likeable and their failures forgivable. Since we trust these two to act from justice and kindness in the long run, when they choose to stand up for and protect a Jewish family at risk of mob violence, we do not find this surprising. And lest we fear modern sensibilities have slipped in, even these most compassionate characters express a fervent desire for the conversion of these Jews as the ultimate best thing for them. That’s as far as the good medieval Christian heart can go and Royal recognizes that it is a kindness in its time, however harsh it may feel to most modern minds. Thomas, with his inner doubts about God and his innate outsider status as a man drawn to love other men at a time when that was viewed as a sin, comes close at times to recognizing that his and Eleanor’s goodwill is too conditional and circumscribed, but he never voices those doubts aloud.
On one level there’s the excitement of sorting out who is murdering people in Tyndal and the intense project of keeping safe this Jewish family while investigating them as the most popular nominees for suspects. The reader also savors a completely unconventional love tale which will have you biting nails, wanting to slap both the man and the woman involved for their foolishness and somehow liking them immensely at the same time. Isn’t that how real people are? Oh, and if lately you’ve been thinking about the limitations of faith, the beauty of bee-keeping and the natural world, the violence of controlling parenting, or, of course, the sanctity of hate, you’ll find plenty to ponder in this book while enjoying yourself. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 21
- Members
- 1,162
- Popularity
- #22,116
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 44
- ISBNs
- 183
- Languages
- 2
- Favorited
- 3