Mistress of the Art of Death (Mistress of the Art of Death, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Feb 23, 2013 Marty rated it it was amazing

Shelves: seasonal-reading-challenge, 2013-reading-challenge

This novel has been on my TBR list for quite a few years. Somehow I just never got around to reading it. Coming after the disappointment in the last historical mystery I read, this was a relief. It is much better written, the attention to historical detail is superior and the woman at the center of the plot has little or no interest in falling in love, except on her own terms.

Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar is the best at what she does - she's a doctor of the dead, a coroner in 12th century This novel has been on my TBR list for quite a few years. Somehow I just never got around to reading it. Coming after the disappointment in the last historical mystery I read, this was a relief. It is much better written, the attention to historical detail is superior and the woman at the center of the plot has little or no interest in falling in love, except on her own terms.

Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar is the best at what she does - she's a doctor of the dead, a coroner in 12th century Sicily, where she teaches at the medical school in Salerno. She and her companions, investigator Simon of Naples and her faithful bodyguard Mansur have been summoned by no less than Henry II of England to investigate the hideous murders of four children in Cambridge. The church and the populace are convinced that the local Jewish community are responsible. Henry has given the Jews shelter within his castle walls until the true murderer can be flushed out.

Adelia is in charge of the autopsies - what she finds is chilling. Not only have the children been murdered, but they were sexually tortured they were killed. She must work in secret for the locals will not accept her as a doctor; she would likely be branded as a witch. It suits her, until a local tax collector, Sir Rowley Picot, discovers her part in the investigation. He is stalking the very same murderer, a man whose evil predilections he encountered while on Crusade. He proposes to work with her. Adelia agrees, reluctantly, because she considers him a suspect. However, it soon becomes clear that the suspect is not Rowley, but someone else who has been on Crusade, who has honed his skills at luring children to their deaths and worse, he's not working alone.

The author does a great job of transporting us back to dangerous, dirty, and frankly, backward 12th century England. She also gives us a taste of what the local dialect may have sounded like, a dialect which is often difficult for even multi-lingual Adelia and her companions to understand. Political tensions in this period were extremely high. Henry's humiliation at the hands of the clergy over the assassination of Thomas a Becket is still a fresh thorn in the monarch's side. His interest in preserving the Jewish community is not entirely unselfish - they provide a sizable amount of revenue for his kingdom. The investigators are pawns in his larger game to win back power from the church.

I had a fair idea of who the murder likely was toward the end, but I was surprised by the method he used to get his hands on the children. Adelia is a very satisfying heroine. She does eventually fall in love, very reluctantly, but does not sacrifice her art for the relationship. It will be interesting to see how she evolves as a character in the rest of the series. ...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Keksisbaby rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed, read-2008, completed-series

Die wahrscheinlich einzige Anthropologin des frühen Mittelalters macht sich auf von Salerno ins weit entfernte englische Cambridge, um Kindermorde aufzuklären. Auf alle Fälle ein spannendes Buch, mit Suchtcharakter. Auch wenn man ungefähr in der Hälfte des Buches erahnen kann wer der Mörder ist. Manchmal empfand ich es als zu weitschweifig und ein bißchen zu aufmodernisiert. Nichtsdestotrotz ein toller Spannender Mittelater-Krimi. Am besten geeignet für schaurig schöne Lesemomente an langen Wint ...more

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