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Murder at Whitby Abbey
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this ebook
Despatched to Whitby Abbey to barter for a Holy Relic, Hildegard of Meaux is plunged into a baffling murder investigation in this gripping medieval mystery.
Late December, 1389. Ordered to undertake a gruelling three-day journey to bleak Whitby Abbey in the far north of England in a bid to purchase the Abbey’s priceless Holy Relic – a lock of St Hild’s hair, said to be 700 years old – Hildegard of Meaux and her three companion monks arrive to find the Abbey a decidedly unwelcoming place, a place of strange customs and practices very different to their modest lifestyle at Meaux. Nor, as Hildegard discovers, is she the only visitor intent on acquiring the Relic.
Before the bidding war can begin, a body is discovered in the monastery’s apple store shed, and once again Hildegard is plunged into a baffling murder investigation where nothing is as it first appears. Something is rotten in the heart of Whitby Abbey – and it’s up to Hildegard to discover the truth.
Late December, 1389. Ordered to undertake a gruelling three-day journey to bleak Whitby Abbey in the far north of England in a bid to purchase the Abbey’s priceless Holy Relic – a lock of St Hild’s hair, said to be 700 years old – Hildegard of Meaux and her three companion monks arrive to find the Abbey a decidedly unwelcoming place, a place of strange customs and practices very different to their modest lifestyle at Meaux. Nor, as Hildegard discovers, is she the only visitor intent on acquiring the Relic.
Before the bidding war can begin, a body is discovered in the monastery’s apple store shed, and once again Hildegard is plunged into a baffling murder investigation where nothing is as it first appears. Something is rotten in the heart of Whitby Abbey – and it’s up to Hildegard to discover the truth.
Author
Cassandra Clark
Cassandra Clark is an award-winning scriptwriter for theatre, radio and television, and the author of nine previous novels in the Hildegard of Meaux medieval mystery series. Running wild near the ruins of the Abbey of Meaux in the East Riding as a child became her inspiration for the series while the discovery in a dusty archive of the Chronicle of Meaux written in 1395 is the secret source for her research.
Read more from Cassandra Clark
A Hildegard of Meaux medieval mystery
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Reviews for Murder at Whitby Abbey
Rating: 4.249999875 out of 5 stars
4/5
8 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A satisfying medieval mystery!A troubled time in history. 1398, King Richard has no army of his own and amongst others he's up against Gloucester, Arundel and Lancaster, when they stop bickering, as one man so eloquently puts it.Against this background the nun Hildegard of Meaux, of the Cistercian priory of Swyne, and her three associates from the Cistercian fold, have been sent north during the twelve days after Christmas to Whitby Abbey, part of the Benedictine order, to obtain a 700 year old relic, a lock of hair of Abbess Hild. Hildegard silently questions her Abbess' injunction, "to bring back as a prize a possibly fraudulent artefact at any price." Her escorts are a young priest, Luke, and two militant monks, Gregory and Egbert.This mission is part of her continued penance for a grievous sin she has committed against the Abbot Hubert de Courcy and the Rule. Not long after they arrive at Whitby a monk is found dead in the apple storage cellar. Along with this other disturbing factors are swirling around the Abbey and its inhabitants. Unfair rents and taxes, and the treatment of some of the townsfolk has the relations between the town and Abbey tinder dry. It will only takes a spark for the whole place to explode.Hildegard and her companions are asked by the Abbot to investigate the death. This is just the beginning of a confusing and at times, harrowing sojourn.I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere that Clark engendered, with touches of high drama, power struggles, and greed, offset by moments of compassion. Hildegard and her companions are a closely knit group that accept each other's strengths and weaknesses. This plays well into what they undertake.There's a lot happening, including the not so implicit criticism about relics. That is a whole different thread of the story.I haven't read any of Hildegard's previous tales. A fact I must remedy as I'm loving her wry humor, reflective thoughtfulness, fully human understandings and adventurous ways.A Severn House ARC via NetGalley
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's 1389 and for her penance Hildegard of Meaux, accompanied by her three companions, Gregory, Egbert and Luke, have left Swyne to travel to Whitby Abbey to acquire at all costs a relic. The situation is complicated by not knowing that there will be competition for the item. It is not long before a Brother of the Abbey goes missing and then is found murdered. But there also seems to be gold missing from the Abbey coffers. Events are made worse by the animosity between the Abbey and the townsfolk.
Although tenth in the series I found I could easily read this as a standalone story.
This is an enjoyable and interesting well-written mystery with its cast of very likeable characters.
A NetGalley Book