The follow-up to Mistress of the Art of Death in the national bestselling series hailed as the medieval answer to Kay Scarpetta and the CSI detectives.
When King Henry IIs mistress is found poisoned, suspicion falls on his estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The king orders Adelia Aguilar, expert in the science of death, to investigateand hopefully stave off civil war. A reluctant Adelia finds herself once again in the company of Rowley Picot, the new Bishop of St. Albans and her babys father. Their discoveries into the crime are shocking and omens of greater danger to come.
...like a woman scorned." And there are more than a couple scorned women running around in "The Serpent's Tale", another fine thriller from Ariana Franklin set in Plantagenet England.
Back from Ariana Franklin's unique and inventive "Mistress of the Art of Death" is the resourceful Adelia Aguilar, a student of the period's fledgling medical sciences in Sicily's opened-minded University of Salerno which allowed a - gasp - woman to be trained in these arcane arts. After successfully solving the serial murders of children in "Mistress", the guileful King Henry II decides to keep poor Adelia around for a while, just in case the need for her services should arise again. Adelia is not happy, pining for Sicily's warmer climates and attitudes, while caring for her newborn daughter in an unusually frigid English winter.
But when Henry's mistress, "the fair Rosamund" is poisoned, it is feared to be murder at the hands of the redoubtable Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, threatening to plunge England into another Civil War. Adelia is summoned by the King to travel to the tower in which Rosamund was cloistered to investigate the facts surrounding Rosamund's death in an attempt to determine if Eleanor was indeed involved.
As with "Mistress", Franklin plays a little loose with the history, as Rosamund was admittedly more legend than historical record. But this in no way detracts from another great yarn, steeped in the culture, mores, and ignorance of a time when stubborn religious doctrine trumped science and the course of history was directed - and recorded - by the Church. The research is impressive and the pace lively - Franklin has a knack for embellishing her plots with interesting side stories, Rosamund's Tower's labyrinth and man trap notable here. Stranded in the blizzard-ravaged deep freeze of Oxfordshire, life inside the Godstow Abbey is vibrantly rendered with well drawn characters in vivid - and miserably cold - settings. And while there may be some liberties taken with Rosamund-lore, the politics of the brilliant and volatile Henry II and his rebellious wife and sons provide a compelling and credible backdrop to this terrific yarn.
So where's the fifth star? As remarkable a character as Adelia is, "The Serpent's Tale", despite some great moments of suspense and delicious morbidity, fell just a bit flat, dragging in places and somewhat overburdened with the dysfunctional relationship between Adelia and Rowley, her daughter's father, now a Bishop forbidden to marry. The love element in the story just didn't do it for me - probably a guy thing - and Adelia seemed to mope and moan to the point just short of being annoying. But hey - I quibble - this is terrific historical fiction, a great follow up to a fresh approach to the period novel, and a great primer for 12th Century England. If you haven't discovered Ariana Franklin and her wily Adelia yet, your missing a fun and illuminating read.
Ariana Franklin's second book featuring the 12th century Dr. Aguilar in a Plantagenet England is just as delightful & absorbing as the first (Mistress of the Art of Death). Franklin has a spare yet rich writing style that conveys all of the information but doesn't get lost in endless dialogue or descriptions.
I've been a longtime fan of Ariana Franklin a.k.a. Diana Norman; her historical novels are exceedingly well-researched and written. Some of her longtime obsessions (Henry II, for one) are found in this latest book. It only adds to the marvelous portrait she's created of him over the decades since he first came to life under her pen in Fitzempress' Law.
I , too, ran to the book store to get this book right after I read 'mistress' , but I was a little dissapointed. the first book is just soooo good , that I expected more.
This is still a good book, I finished it in a weekend, but I was dissapointed that the love story between Adelia and Rowly just didn't go anywhere. Also, there was a bit too much of waiting around.
But I really hope there will be a third, and I hope it will be more like the first. The author has a great style, with a lot of humor, it just showed more in the first book.
