Ashes of the Elements

Not really a mystery, more of a medieval soap opera with a couple of murders, a bit of sex, some drug play, and a jarring supernatural angle...none of which add up to much. I may have been a bit too hasty in buying the entire series.

This is the second in "The Hakenlye" series. It has an exciting opening giving you an anticipation of what is to come. But it is light reading, silly at times. Perhaps the author, on realizing this, decided to spice up the story with sex scenes, the worse being a gang rape. She also is trying to push the nun into something sexual. Not a way to make the book interesting. Gave it three stars.

Abbess Helewise of Hawkenlye Abbey stumbles over a dead body, a poacher, stabbed through the heart with a flint-headed spear, near the edge of a forest. The sheriff of the district pooh-poohs the crime as the work of the Wild Folk living in the forest, who travel around so there is no chance of catching them; in the sheriff's book, the case is closed. Her friend Sir Josse investigates. There is another murder of the poacher's friend; this time the man is struck down with a dagger. A local nobleman dies in mysterious circumstances. Did he hit his head on the stairs as his wife tells Sir Josse? There's a fair amount of Irish and other Celtic paganism introduced into the story when some of the Forest Folk appear. Helewise has problems with show more a novice and a lay workers. Finally, all is resolved satisfactorally.

I didn't like this one as much as I did vol. 1 in the series. So much paganism unsettled me. The characters were just as endearing as before. I feel this novel may not be one of the author's best, but I plan to read the series. show less

Forest people have rituals near abbey

El caballero Josse visita a la abadesa Helewise cuando éste acaba de encontrar el cadáver de un furtivo, Hammes, atravesado con una arcaica lanza. El sheriff de Tornbridge da por sentado que lo hicieron los denominados «moradores del bosque» un grupo de personas que habitan en la espesura y que mantienen costumbres paganas y matriarcales. Pero a la abadesa no le satisface esta hipótesis. Mientras, el rey Ricardo Corazón de León va camino de la tercera cruzada, pese a su reciente boda. Una nueva muerte y la preocupación por la posible implicación de dos muchachas de la abadía de Hawkenlye incitan a Helewise y a Josse a unirse de nuevo a fin de descubrir qué fuerzas se ocultan realmente en la misteriosa oscuridad del antiguo show more bosque. show less

El caballero Josse visita a la abadesa Helewise cuando éste acaba de encontrar el cadáver de un furtivo, Hammes, atravesado con una arcaica lanza. El sheriff de Tornbridge da por sentado que lo hicieron los denominados «moradores del bosque» un grupo de personas que habitan en la espesura y que mantienen costumbres paganas y matriarcales. Pero a la abadesa no le satisface esta hipótesis. Mientras, el rey Ricardo Corazón de León va camino de la tercera cruzada, pese a su reciente boda.