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Rating: 
Summary: I was very glad to see a new novel in this series
Review: I enjoy this series, and I was sorry when it appeared that C.L. Grace had ended it. I don't think it's a GREAT series, but I always enjoy the books. This was no exception. I was completely caught up in the multiple plots and I hope there will be more volumes in the series.I would recommend Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series, beginning with A Morbid Taste for Bones; Margaret Frazer's Sister Frevisse series beginning (I think) with a Novice's Tale; and Kate Sedley's series beginning with Death and the Chapman.
Rating:
Summary: I was very glad to see a new novel in this series
Review: I enjoy this series, and I was sorry when it appeared that C.L. Grace had ended it. I don't think it's a GREAT series, but I always enjoy the books. This was no exception. I was completely caught up in the multiple plots and I hope there will be more volumes in the series. I would recommend Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series, beginning with A Morbid Taste for Bones; Margaret Frazer's Sister Frevisse series beginning (I think) with a Novice's Tale; and Kate Sedley's series beginning with Death and the Chapman.
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Summary: Medieval physician solves another mystery
Review: Kathryn Swinbrooke, physician in Canterbury, is called upon to be the Devil's Advocate in the petition of sainthood for the queen mother's confessor. The plot twists as much as the lanes through the old town. Aided by Kathryn's would-be lover, Colum, the two search for the spy and murderer who is attempting to bring the French to the British throne. One false step could see Kathryn dead.
The mystery is thoughtful and the plot intricate. The historical background thorough. If you enjoy the Owen Archer series by Candace Robb. Try this one.
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Summary: Ungraceful
Review: Paul C Doherty (writing here as CL Grace) is the Earl Stanley Gardner of historical mystery writers, turning out several books a year. Most are set in medieval England, a historical period in which Doherty earned a PhD at Oxford. SAINTLY MURDERS is set in 1472 at Canterbury and features as its sleuth Kathryn Swinbrooke, physician and apothecary. It is packed with murders, mysteries, and royal intrigues. Doherty even gives his readers a locked room mystery, a plot device that has languished since John Dickson Carr. The busy plot tends to distract a reader from the book's weaknesses: shallow characterization and pedestrian dialogue. The historical figures in the story, like Archbishop Borchier and Edward IV, are more fully realized than the fictional ones. SAINTLY MURDERS bears a passing resemblance to the Brother Caedfal mysteries of Ellis Peters. The central murder victim is a friar of the Order of the Sack, who also happens to be the confessor of Cecily of York, mother of Edward IV. Much of the action takes place on the grounds of the prosperous Order's establishment. Within days of his death, Friar Atwood is being put forward for sainthood because of miracles and mysterious occurrences at his burial site. The Archbishop of Canterbury appoints Kathrn Swinbrooke Advocatus Diaboli (the Devil's Advocate) to argue the case against Atwood's beatification. In the process she uncovers and solves murders and spy plots galore. Loath though I am to question historical details provided by an Oxford-educated medievalist, Grace/Doherty's having Kathryn appointed Advocatus Diaboli so that she has the power to delve into the mystery of Friar Atwood's death smells extremely fishy. The first recorded mention of an Advocatus Diaboli was in 1513, 40 years after this story takes place, and the office was not formally established until 1587. Those who held the title were generally high churchmen, not apothecaries and certainly not women. My biggest difficulty, though, with SAINTLY MURDERS is not this dubious plot device but rather the way Kathryn exercises her power as Devil's Advocate. In general she behaves just like a brash 21st century female PI. She orders male characters about and threatens them as if she has been doing it all her life. She tells a church prelate to "shut up" and jibes the King's brother about his manhood. In his afterword, Grace/Doherty makes the argument that women "...probably had more rights in 1300 than they had in 1900..." and cites Chaucer's Wife of Bath as a woman who could hold her own with men. Perhaps, perhaps, but that does not mean that a woman of Kathryn's station in life would be accustomed to bossing and questioning, with such panache, men and women of higher social standing. I find it odd that the Black Death and its aftermath figures not at all in SAINTLY MURDERS' backdrop of English life during a lull in the War of the Roses. The battle of Tewkesbury may have decimated the Lancastrian nobility, but the plague reduced the population of the British Isles by a third, a loss that took three centuries to recoup. The effects of declining food production caused by the plague and climatic change is nowhere visible. The expulsion of the English from their continental possessions is mentioned, but we aren't shown the diastrous reduction in trade that resulted from that loss. Grace/Doherty gives his readers a merry old England going about its business as usual, but that is not the real Britain of 1472.
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Summary: Mystery in the War of the Roses
Review: The War of the Roses appears over with Edward IV firmly on the crown and only Henry Tudor, in exile in France, left to represent the Lancaster hopes. Yet the King of France continues to nibble away at England's strength. Rumor has it that he has a traitor high in the English royal party--but whom. When a Canterbury monk and the Queen Mother's confessor dies and is found with the stigmata on his body, Kathryn Swinbrooke is asked to serve as Devil's Advocate in his proposed canonization. Was his death a miracle, or could it be something worse? Certainly there are evil things abroad. Rats have invaded Canterbury and human rats swarm as well. A spy returned from France has learned the name of the traitor but is killed before he can divulge the truth. Kathryn is forced to deal with several intertwined mysteries--and finds herself in grave personal risk. C. L. Grace writes a wonderfully involving novel set in the fascinating War of the Roses period of English history. Kathryn is an interesting and well developed character--increasing the reader's buy-in to the risk and danger that she finds herself in. Both the medical technology and the accounts of monestary living add to the readers' interest. A fine and compelling read. BooksForABuck.
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Summary: at long last: another Kathryn Swinbrooke mystery
Review: The War of the Roses may be over for the time being, however intrigue is still the game of the day. And apothecary Kathryn Swinbrooke finds herself uncomfortably in the middle of another mare's nest that includes murder, political intrigue and fraud, in the "Saintly Murders." It's 1472, and Kathryn is summoned by the Archbishop of Canterbury to investigate the death of Roger Atworth, a friar in the Order of Sack. Roger Atworth was once a soldier and a member of Dame Cecily of York's (Edward IV's mother) household. As a soldier he led a very violent and lawless life, however, he later repented his sinful ways, gave up the secular life and joined the Order of the Sack. His honest repentance for his past sins and his compassion and understanding towards others earned him a reputation for holiness, and he even became Dame Cecily's confessor. So that when his dead body is discovered in his cell, and the marks of stigmata are found on it, there is a clamour to see him beatified. Soon, people are claiming to have witnessed sightings of him and to have been cured of various ailments as a result. The Archbishop wants Kathryn to play Devil's Advocate and to argue against beatification by proving that there is a logical and scientific/medical explanation for everything that has occurred. On the surface, her task seems easy enough. However, Kathryn soon finds her investigation heavy going -- the friars of Roger's order are openly hostile, cagey and secretive; and a preliminary examination of Roger's body shows that he did not die of natural causes at all, but was murdered. Kathryn begins to suspect that it was his ties to Dame Cecily that got him killed, especially when one of Edward IV's most trusted spies turns up dead outside the friary. Now, Kathryn's academic search for the truth has turned into a manhunt for a ruthless killer. But will she be able to discover who this killer is and what it is he is after before he strikes again? I'm really glad that Paul Doherty (a.k.a. C. L. Grace) has decide to continue the Kathryn Swinbrooke series. This series was one of my favourites, and I was really disappointed when he stopped writing it a couple of years ago. And what a relief that even though it's been quite a while since the last book in this series, this latest Kathryn Swinbrooke novel is as fresh and as riveting as the other four. As usual, Doherty has peppered the novel with enough detail and atmosphere to keep the novel authentic and accurate to its time period. And Kathryn Swinbrook is as strong minded, vital, appealing and intelligent as ever. The plot is a clever and intriguing one that kept me guessing for quite a while, and the book fairly reeked with suspense and tension as I wondered if Kathryn would unmask the murderer before (s)he struck again. This novel is a truly brilliant historical murder mystery, and definitely makes for riveting reading.
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