Cursed in the Blood: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
The fifth in Sharan Newman's highly authentic and richly praised series, Cursed in the Blood finds Catherine LeVendeur venturing to the cold and tumultuous homeland of her husband--only to realize that vast differences between Edgar's family and her own.
After making the pilgrimage to Compostela and giving birth to a son, Catherine LeVendeur is looking forward to an idyllic life at home in Paris. Yet her contentment is shattered when she and Edgar receive news from his family: Edgar's two oldest brothers have been ambushed and murdered, and he must return to Scotland to help avenge their deaths. At first, Edgar refuses to go, knowing what may await them in his war torn homeland. But Catherine believes in family loyalty and insists upon accompanying him with their baby.
Once in Scotland, Catherine is surprised to learn that Edger's family is not what she imagined: His father, Waldeve, is a cold tyrant, and his remaining siblings are distant and secretive. Separated from Edgar during their efforts to uncover the truth, Catherine is expelled from his family's care. She becomes a stranger in a strange land, searching for refuge in a country ravaged by civil war at the same time she searches for her husband. Yet she knows that any haven she finds will only be temporary until she answers this question: Who among Waldeve's enemies hates him passionately enough to destroy his whole family--including, she fears, his infant grandson?
Winner of the Herodotus Award for Best Historical Mystery
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Sharan Newman
Sharan Newman is a medieval historian and author. She took her Master’s degree in Medieval Literature at Michigan State University and then did her doctoral work at the University of California at Santa Barbara in Medieval Studies, specializing in twelfth-century France. She is a member of the Medieval Academy and the Medieval Association of the Pacific. Rather than teach, Newman chose to use her education to write novels set in the Middle Ages, including three Arthurian fantasies and more than half a dozen mysteries set in twelfth-century France, featuring Catherine LeVendeur, a one-time student of Heloise at the Paraclete; her husband, Edgar, an Anglo-Scot; and Solomon, a Jewish merchant of Paris. The books focus on the life of the bourgeoisie and minor nobility and also the uneasy relations between Christians and Jews at that time. They also incorporate events of the twelfth-century such as the Second Crusade and the rise of the Cathars. The Catherine Levendeur mysteries have been nominated for many awards. Sharan won the Macavity Award for best first mystery for Death Comes As Epiphany, the Herodotus Award for best historical mystery for Cursed in the Blood, and The Witch in the Well won the Bruce Alexander award for best historical mystery. Her mystery The Shanghai Tunnel is set in Portland in 1868. Newman has also written non-fiction books, including The Real History Behind the Da Vince Code and The Real History Behind the Templars. Newman lives on a mountainside in Oregon.
Related to Cursed in the Blood
Titles in the series (1)
Death Comes As Epiphany: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related ebooks
In the Shadow of the Enemy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Golden Cargoes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn The Presence of Evil Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Square of Sevens: An Authoritative Method of Cartomancy with a Prefatory Note Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPledged to the Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Mortal Bane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Blood of Kings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Rare Benedictine: The Advent of Brother Cadfael Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Betrayal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArgolicus Mysteries: Books 1-4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJewels of Darkover: Darkover Anthology, #20 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Claudia Seferius Mysteries Bundle #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Red Hand of Fury Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Intruder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clays Beneath the Skies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death Between the Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marion Zimmer Bradley: Golden Age Space Opera Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Comedy of Terrors: A Flavia Albia Novel Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Stone-Worker's Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stone's Throe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Bloom in the North: The Stone Moon Trilogy, #3 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Treason of the Blood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHungry Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chosen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Worth of a Shell: The Stone Moon Trilogy, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Deadly Inheritance Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Mystery For You
Pretty Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Flight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kept Woman: A Will Trent Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5None of This Is True: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life We Bury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5False Witness: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Club: A Reese's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summit Lake Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunting Party: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The River We Remember: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Did I Kill You?: A Thriller Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Murdery Mystery Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pharmacist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pieces of Her: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman in the Library: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The People Next Door Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finlay Donovan Is Killing It: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Reacher: A Mysterious Profile Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Complete Short Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in a Blue Dress (30th Anniversary Edition): An Easy Rawlins Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Staircase: Nancy Drew #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Big Sleep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Cursed in the Blood
36 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I have very mixed feelings towards this entire series. On the one hand, the atmosphere is incredibly vivid. I can't really judge if it's accurate, but I certain feel transported to another time and place that I can experience with all my senses.However, plotting and characterization sometimes leave a lot to be desired. The male members of Edgar's family were so one-dimensional and melodramatic that I lost interest in what would probably have been a pretty good story. There were two exceptions: one is a brother who is gay, which at least is one of the nicer stereotypes about homosexuals; and his uncle who belongs in a sword and sorcery novel. I didn't much care for the ending. I think Newman may be getting herself into a corner, but I don't imagine that I'll read any more of the series, so I'll never know.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I have very mixed feelings towards this entire series. On the one hand, the atmosphere is incredibly vivid. I can't really judge if it's accurate, but I certain feel transported to another time and place that I can experience with all my senses.However, plotting and characterization sometimes leave a lot to be desired. The male members of Edgar's family were so one-dimensional and melodramatic that I lost interest in what would probably have been a pretty good story. There were two exceptions: one is a brother who is gay, which at least is one of the nicer stereotypes about homosexuals; and his uncle who belongs in a sword and sorcery novel. I didn't much care for the ending. I think Newman may be getting herself into a corner, but I don't imagine that I'll read any more of the series, so I'll never know.