Book Review: The Clerk's Tale

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Clerk's Tale     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Margaret Frazer
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Historical   Cozy   Woman Main Character   Religious Fiction
Series: Dame Frevisse Medieval Mysteries # 11
Berkley, Jan 2002, $22.95, 320 pp.

It is a comparative mild January day in 1446 England. However, Dame Frevisse has a mixed blessing about the weather, as she must leave her home in the St. Frideswide’s Priory. Travel is awful because the roads are muddy and slick. She and her prioress, Sister Domina Elisabeth are going to see her dying cousin at St. Mary’s Priory.

Once they arrive, they find no room for them even though they were expected. A murder has been committed and people are gathering for the inquest. They find out the victim is her old nemeses Morys Montfort who had come to Goring to settle an inheritance dispute. Although Frevisse never liked the victim, she felt it was up to God to bring him to justice not man. When Morys' son asks Frevisse to investigate she feels she has no choice but to agree. As she learns more about the inheritance dispute she becomes convinced that one of the many parties involved is the killer. The only problem is how to prove who it is.

Margaret Frazer is in top form as she write the eighth installment in the "Dame Frevisse Medieval Mystery" series. The heroine, who has chosen her true calling, feels closer to God than anyone and the audience responds to her goodness and purity of soul. THE CLERK’S TALE is an excellent work for fans of historical mysteries as the tale is thoroughly researched and totally believable.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner