Review

When Aubrey Tercel arrives in Lincoln as part of Lady Nicolaa de la Haye’s sister’s retinue, he’s determined to do two things:  seduce every young and attractive female in town, and track down his biological mother so he can prove he’s the bastard son of Richard the Lionheart.  Unfortunately for Aubrey, however, it seems somebody in Lincoln aims to prevent him from achieving his goals, for late one night, on his way back from a tryst with the furrier’s wife, Aubrey takes a crossbow bolt to the chest and is left to die in the ramparts.

Horrified that such a thing could take place inside the walls of her own castle – and to a member of her sister’s court, no less – Lady Nicolaa calls upon Templar knight Bascot de Marins for assistance in catching the killer.  Bascot initially assumes the furrier shot Aubrey as an act of revenge, but it turns out the man didn’t even learn of his wife’s infidelity until after Aubrey’s death.  But then who committed the crime, and why?

I should probably start this review with a disclaimer:  I am not a fan of historical mysteries.  For the most part, I find that books set outside the modern era spend too much time establishing time and place and too little time creating tension and raising stakes.  So I guess what I’m saying is, I’ll bet good money I’m not Maureen Ash’s ideal audience. 

That said, however, A Deadly Penance is a relatively engaging read.  Yes, the book is a tad wordy for my taste; there are some early sections I had to force myself not to skim, and I think the overly formal style of Ash’s prose saps the book of its narrative drive.  Also, Ash’s attempt to render her characters in a historically accurate way has the (I assume unintended) consequence of making her entire cast feel kind of cold and two-dimensional.  But the central mystery is actually pretty compelling; Ash delivers a host of likely suspects, drops clues and red herrings in all the right places and pens a solution I never saw coming, so in that respect this book is a total success.

Would I recommend this book?  I guess that depends.  If, like me, you’re not big on period fiction or you like your books to be twisty and turny and action-packed, you may want to sit this one out.  But if you’re a medieval history buff or you’re looking for something that’s maybe a little outside the modern traditional mystery wheelhouse, give Maureen Ash’s A Deadly Penance a try.

Reviewed by Kat