Sister Frevisse Medieval Mysteries (Hardcover)
5 total works
Since the death of her husband, Anne Blakhall has carried on their shared business as a tailor and embroiderer in the heart of London. Rather than remarry as prosperous widows usually do, she has taken on a lover - Daved Weir, a foreign merchant who must conceal the fact he is a Jew so long as he is in England, or face deadly peril. Dame Frevisse of St Frideswide's nunnery is in London to arrange funeral vestments for her cousin's murdered husband, the Duke of Suffolk. She is also charged with secretly recovering gold the duke sent out of England shortly before his death. Attempting to help her cousin, she encounters Anne and Daved. But her duty and their love become more dangerous as a rebel army approaches the city. Trapped by rebels, threatened by the Inquisition, Dame Frevisse must find out not only who is guilty, but whether anyone at all is innocent.
It is the Spring of 1449. Recently widowed and still grieving for her husband, Christiana Helyngton finds her life wrenched apart by her late husband's greedy and ambitious relatives who are determined to have control of her lands and her daughters. Kidnapped, defamed and imprisoned, she must find a way to save herself before she can save her children. For Dame Frevisse at St. Frideswide's nunnery, Christiana is at first nothing more than a puzzle. Then, questions rise and troubles deepen and turn deadly. England is being drawn towards civil war by a struggle between the corrupt men who hold power around the king and those who oppose them. Christiana must use a secret entrusted to her by her husband as he was dying - but it is a secret that could bring down those lords nearest the king and destroy, rather than save, those most dear to her. Drawn into trouble far deeper than it first seemed, Frevisse must decide where her loyalties lie.
St Mary's infirmary garden was a place for the growing of healing herbs and a place of quiet for those nuns who had been ill. The fact that it was designed for serenity and comfort made it doubly wrong to find Master Montfort sprawled out on the grass there. Dead. That he had died violently was neither a surprise nor a distress to Dame Frevisse. Her past dealings with him when he was crowner had not been pleasant. And as royal escheator in charge of determining the rightful heirs of important properties, Monfort had enemies enough. In fact, his death seemed directly related to his work...Montfort was to settle an inheritance dispute between a wealthy woman and her supposed nephew. If he is actually her dead sister's son, he stands to inherit an estate. Now Dame Frevisse must step in and untangle the fortunes and felonies in this complicated case of political and familial rivalries. But her real challenge is to put aside her feelings and serve justice for the murder of an unjust man...
Dame Frevisse must determine whether Sister Cecely, newly returned to the nunnery with her young son, is truly interested in repenting for her sins—or if she’s just in hiding after involvement in schemes that threaten everyone at St. Frideswide.