I discovered this series of novels about a Medieval forensic scientist last year when a friend lent me her copy of this first one - and they immediately became firm favourites. I devoured the first three and am eagerly awaiting publication of the fourth, due in hardback in April 2010 in the USA and July in the UK. Although I'm sure they can be enjoyed out of order, it's probably a good idea to start here at the beginning.

For some reason some of the titles change on crossing the Atlantic, so it's best to be aware and avoid unnecessary duplications:
1. Mistress of the Art of Death
2. The Death Maze aka The Serpent's Tale
3. Grave Goods aka Relics of the Dead
4. A Murderous Procession aka The Assassin's Prayer

In my opinion, Henry II's Mistress of the Art of Death, Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar, a wonderful name to capture the imagination, comes fully alive from the page as a well-rounded, well-drawn, very strong character - as do many others in the novels. Personally, I have a sneaky soft spot for the king as well - but don't tell anyone!

I think this will appeal to mrsgaskell. I know she enjoyed the investigations of Matthew Shardlake, C J Sansom's Tudor lawyer. This jumps another 400 years further into the past but to me it evokes the same atmosphere.

I failed to find a copy locally, new or second-hand, despite visiting 31 charity shops, 3 bookshops, 2 discount outlets, 2 supermarkets and a charity fund-raising box during the past fortnight, but fortunately Amazon came to the rescue! Of course, I'm not complaining. I spent half of January indoors reading, hiding from the ice and snow, and the other half looking for, and occasionally buying, books. It was a great month!

Enjoy!

Flying across the Atlantic carrying Good Will wishes to mrsgaskell :-) Books 2 (The Death Maze) and 3 (Grave Goods) will be sailing on behind....

I'm overwhelmed!! What a wonderful surprise! Thank you so much Nu-Knees for sending me this book and for going to so much trouble to find a copy for me. And to be sending me the sequels as well. I'd seen your enthusiastic comments about this series and was thinking just today that I should probably look for it. And now without any effort on my part, the books are just falling into my hands. I'm really excited about reading this. Thanks again!

It’s just after Easter 1171 and a group of pilgrims is returning to Cambridge from Canterbury. Among their number, which includes monks, nuns, knights, and crusaders, is a murderer of children. Also within the group are three foreigners from Salerno, Simon of Naples, a Jewish investigator, Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar, a female doctor whose specialty is the study of corpses, and Mansur, a Saracen. At the request of the King of Sicily, they have been sent to investigate the murder of the child, Peter of Trumpington, and the disappearance of several other children. The Jews of Cambridge have been accused of these crimes by the townspeople and are locked in the castle for their own protection. King Henry II wants the true killer found because the Jews provide a large portion of his income. There are no female doctors in England and Adelia must pretend that Mansur is the doctor and that she is merely his assistant. To do otherwise might expose her to charges of witchcraft. This is an excellent mystery with a great cast of characters. I especially liked Simon, Adelia, Sir Rowland, Gyltha, and Ulf. And like you, Nu-Knees, I was quite taken with the king. I enjoyed the setting in medieval Cambridge, before the colleges, but the river Cam and the punts were already part of everyday life. This was a gripping read, and I was hooked from start to finish. It won’t be too long before I treat myself to reading the sequel.

Thanks again Nu-Knees for sharing this with me - I'm not the least bit surprised that I loved this - I fully expected to from your review. I hope to pass this on to gypsysmom - I don't think she'll be able to resist ;)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Gypsysmom couldn't resist so I have passed this on to her. Thanks for coming by to visit - great chatting as usual. Enjoy!

mrsgaskell and I had a lovely afternoon of tea and chat yesterday and I came home with this book. mrsgaskell had sent me the link for her journal entry saying she thought I might like it. I practically salivated as I read it so I said that she was right and I would like to read it very much. In looking through my list of books whose reviews made me think I would like them I have noted several Ariana Franklin books. They are for the later ones in the series and mrsgaskell says Nu-Knees has also sent those so I am very excited. Thanks Nu-Knees for thinking of mrsgaskell and thanks mrsgaskell for thinking of me. Isn't BookCrossing wonderful?

Ever since mrsgaskell told me about this series that Nu-Knees was kind enough to send to her I've been dying (no pun intended) to read it. But, you know how it is, there's books to read for book club and then there's books that other BookCrossers have passed on even before this one and then there are books to read for the SIY challenge and this one just never rose to the top of the pile. I even took it on holidays with me thinking that with 4 weeks leisure I would have lots of time to read. Wrong! I seemed to have even less time on holiday to read than when I'm working. So, it went to Oregon and California with me and then it came home. But finally, last week when I finished my penultimate book for SIY#13 and was well on the way to finishing the last book, I decided it was time to crack it open (Not that I would ever crack a book's spine; it makes me cringe to even think about it.)

At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to read about a serial killer alive in mediaval England. The killings seemed especially gruesome. And I didn't immediately care for Adelia either; she seemed almost one-dimensional. I think it was about the time that she and Rowley got injured protecting Simon's grave from the mob that I really started to like her and started rooting for her. And I really loved the character of Ulf, the small boy who started out suspicious of Adelia but then became her source and local interpreter.

In fact, there were lots of characters that I liked. Rowley was an unlikely hero but when he told Adelia why he wanted to catch the murderer I discovered he had hidden depths. Glytha was also a great character. She's a great cook, an independent woman and passionate about Ulf, her grandson. I especially liked Prior Geoffrey who is operated on by Adelia in the first chapter. He turns out to be her best supporter in Cambridge.

When I looked at the previous JEs a few days ago I couldn't understand why the king was mentioned. At that point I was at least two-thirds of the way through the book and the king had not appeared. But he certainly does have a major part to play and I guess it's a good thing he forbids Adelia returning to Salerno. Otherwise we wouldn't have more books to look forward to.

Thanks Nu-Knees and mrsgaskell for bringing this series to my attention and passing the books on.

I'm sure there are a few people at work who will want to read this. I'll take it in tomorrow and see who grabs it first.

I passed this on to my librarian friend at work. She has a book to read for her book club (The Zookeeper's Wife) but then she'll tuck into this. I'm sure she'll like it as much as I did.

Received this from Gypsysmom with the 'you might find this a good read' comment that usually accompanies all the books (and there have been many) she passes on to me and she was right. First she got me hooked on the Shardlake series and now I've found another author/personnage I'd like to read more of/about. I love historical fiction (HF) - always have and recently I seem to have found myself stuck in England in the 1100's - 1200's. This is an era a few hundred years prior to the dates of most of my 'normal' HF book settings (Tudors) but I am finding that I want to go back to my English history books and learn more about that period of history. Unlike some books I have read the author kept the plot spinning for sometime after the villian was unmasked and I found myself sitting up late (12:46am) trying to finish it because there just didn't seem to be a break in the action where I could leave it until morning. Have to check with gypsysmom to see whether she has any more in the series and whether she wants this back otherwise I have a co-worker who is eager to read it.

BellBelle did indeed pass it on to our co-worker who has finished it and given it back to me. She enjoyed it and she and BellBelle were happy to hear that I have the next two in the series. Now I just have to get them read.

I bought a copy of this to give to my sister for Christmas so I won't be passing this book on to her. I think I'll take it to the next BookCrossing meet-up and I'm sure someone there will want to take it home.

I'll take this to the Winnipeg BookCrossers Meeting tonight and if no-one wants to take it home I will leave it on the OBCZ shelf for another lucky finder. This release is for the 2010 Keep Them Moving release challenge.

Picked this book up this evening at our monthly get together at the Park Theatre Cafe. It's going near the top of my TBR heap. Sounds like one I'll enjoy. Thanks gypsysmom! :-)

I started reading this book a few days ago. I had just finished another book and it was late, but I wasn't quite ready to go to sleep yet. So I picked up this book thinking "I'll just read a bit..." ...meanwhile...150 pages later...do I need to say that I enjoyed reading Mistress of the Art of Death? :-) I found this book hard to put down. It kept me up too late a few times...

I liked that, although this story was set in the 12th century, details of the time period did not overwhelm the story itself. This is a murder mystery with twists and turns and suspicions and vindications. The setting merely added flavour to the events. I'll be on the lookout for the other titles in this series.

Picked this up at tonight's meeting...thanks Kismet. This will go to the top of Mt. TBR.

I found this book to be 'slower moving' than the murder mysteries I usually read but this story takes place in the 12th century and things moved much slower than they do now. I enjoyed this book very much and am looking forward to reading the next one.

Adelia is a brilliant woman who notices that the young Ulf is also very intelligent even though at first he seems to be a bit 'slow'. He shows that he has much wisdom beyond his years.

Thank you Nu-knees for sending this book and to Mrs. Gaskell, Gypsysmom, and Kismet for passing it along. I will start the next book in the next day or two.

Taking this book to our monthly meeting....if nobody takes it home it will be waiting on the shelves for its next journey.

I got this book from another member of my neighbourhood book club. I'm not sure why she didn't journal it. She did tell me that the book was left behind at one of our gatherings and that she enjoyed reading it.

I'm not exactly sure how it got to our book club, but I do know that there's at least one other Bookcrosser in the group (not the person who gave me the book). Perhaps she picked it up at the theatre (the last known journalled location) and brought it to the meeting. However, she didn't journal it either. What's wrong with these people??!! ;)

Included with the book is a postcard of Knaresborough Castle (filled out by Nu_knees). It stayed with the book all this time. How cool is that!!

I really like historical fiction, so I'm really looking forward to reading this one. But, honestly, it was the Bookcrossing sticker that piqued my interest in the first place. I couldn't believe that a Bookcrossing book found me after I'd been away from the site for so many years.

Anyway, I'll journal again once I've read the book. I'll be sure to put this one on the top of Mt. To-Be-Read, otherwise, it might get lost and never see the light of day again.

Thanks for the book!

Sorry it took me so long to make another journal entry. I actually read the book in July, but procrastinating in writing the review. Anyway, here are my thoughts:

In Mistress of the Art of Death, a child has been murdered and others are missing. The Jews are being accused of this horrendous act. Simon of Naples, an investigator, and a young female doctor, Adelia Aguilar, are dispatched to investigate. Adelia's speciality is the study of corpses and she's hoping the bodies can lead to the identity of the killer. However, it's the late 10th century in England and females doctors are almost unheard of. Adelia must hide her profession lest she's accused of witchcraft.

I really enjoyed this one. The historical references were terrific. I haven't read too many (if any) books set in this time period, but the author's scene setting and use of language made me feel like I was actually there. I love both mysteries and historical fiction, but it's not often that a book features the best of both worlds. This one was exactly that. A real treat!

I didn't start out loving or even liking Adelia, but she definitely grew on me. At first, she seemed unapproachable, cold, and harsh. After awhile, though, I really started to like her. I don't know if she changed or I got used to her style. I also really liked Adelia's cook, Glytha, and her young grandson, Ulf, who helped out Adelia.

I did have a little trouble following what was going on at times, though, but I usually caught on within a couple of pages, so it wasn't too bad.

I generally keep track of the new words I encounter in books. However, I didn't bother doing that with this one. There were just too many and recording each of the new words would have seemed like work. I'm guessing that most of them were objects or expressions from the time period or region.

Ariana Franklin is the pen name of British writer Diana Norman. It funny that her website (see below) doesn't mention that. That same website also doesn't mention that she died in 2011. The last copyright was in 2010, so I guess it hasn't been updated since then.

Highly recommended. I'm going to keep an eye out for her other books. I'd love to read another one.

This book came to me through my bookclub.

For more information about this book and the author, please visit the Ariana Franklin's website.

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, Transworld Publishers (Random House), ©2007. ISBN 9780553818000(Trade paperback), 503p.

This review is also available on my blog, Daisy's Book Journal.

Now that I'm done with the book, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. I might return it to the bookclub for another member to read. I'm afraid, though, that journal entries are unlikely. I'll have to think about it some more and keep you posted.