In February of 668 A.D., Fidelma of Cashel and her companion Eadulf are about to get married. Again. Their initial trial marriage of a year and a day has ended and they are about to embark on a permanent partnership. As the sister to the King of Muman, Fidelma's marriage ceremony is a major event in the kingdom of Ireland and the High King, as well as kings of the other Irish kingdoms and other major figures are going to be in attendance. One not so welcome guest is the fanatical Abbot Ultan, who advocates the radical position of celebacy for all religieuse and feels that Sister Fidelma's upcoming nuptials are an abomination. On the eve of the ceremony, Abbot Ultan is found murdered in his chamber. Worse still, one of the most distinguished guests, the King of Connacht, has been seen fleeing from the scene and is charged with the murder. Quickly Fidelma, who is appointed in the King's defense, discovers that Abbot Ultan is not the pious man he was thought to be, and has numerous enemies amongst those assembled for the wedding. Her wedding delayed, the high born guests restless and querulous, and the murder and it's aftermath threatening to cause chaos throughout the Kingdom, it's up to Fidelma to uncover the murderer--and the truth behind the murder itself--if the often tenuouos peace of 7th century Ireland is to be maintained.From Publishers WeeklyTremayne's engrossing 17th Ancient Ireland mystery (after 2006's Master of Souls) finds series heroine Fidelma on the eve of her marriage. Political and ecclesiastical bigwigs have gathered for the ceremony. The tremendously unpopular Abbot Ultán also arrives to protest that Fidelma must uphold her long-ago religious vows by remaining celibate. Ultán soon turns up dead, and there's no shortage of suspects. Muirchertach Nár, the king of Connacht, who believed his sister-in-law had been wronged by Ultán, was spotted near the crime scene. The sons of a woman Ultán beat for worshipping a pagan deity also come under suspicion. When Muirchertach Nár is killed, Fidelma must determine whether the deaths were related. The solution to that riddle is so unexpected that it slightly strains credulity. Rich in historical detail, this series also reflects on many contemporary issues, including celibacy, gender and church leadership. Tremayne (pseudonym for scholar Peter Berresford Ellis) has produced another winner. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistAfter being joined together for a year in accordance with ancient Irish custom, Sister Fidelma of Cashel and Brother Eadulf are about to be officially married. Of course, it will come as no surprise to fans of this series that their much-anticipated ceremony is postponed when one of their guests is murdered. Not only was Abbot Ultan universally despised, he was also vehemently opposed to Fidelma and Eadulf's marriage. Although not uncommon for members of religious orders to marry in the seventh-century Celtic Church, Ultan was among the growing number of clergy lobbying against these unions. When the king of Connacht is accused of the crime, he enlists the scholarly Fidelma as his advocate. As the list of suspects grows longer, so do the frustration levels of the would-be bride and groom. Another stellar installment in the most authentically detailed medieval mystery series currently being published. Flanagan, Margaret Views: 5
Just how far does the “observer effect” go? Views: 5
Stunning Belrive Priory, consisting of a mansion, park and medieval ruins, is surrounded by the noise and neon signs of its gaudy neighbours - a cotton-mill, a brewey and a main road. Nevertheless, Arthur Ferryman is pleased to return for a family Christmas, but is shocked to discover that his cousins have taken up a new pastime - pistol-shooting. Inspector Appleby arrives on the scene when one of Ferryman's cousins is found shot dead in the study, in a mystery built on family antagonisms. Views: 5
A serial killer declares hunting season in an upstate New York university town. The killer wants to keep the young reporter, Alex Bernier, well-informed, both as a journalist and as a potential victim. Views: 5
Why was King Henry, an aboriginal from Western Australia, killed in New South Wales? What was the feud that led to murder after nineteen long years had passed? Who was the woman who saw the murder and kept silent? This first story of Inspector Bonaparte takes him to the Darling River bush country where he encounters those problems he understands so well - mixed blood and divided loyalties. Views: 5
A Tale Of Revenge Vulcan was a factory planet, centuries old, Company run, ugly as sin, and unfeeling as death. Vulcan bred just two types of native—complacent or tough. . .and Sten was tough. When his family died in a mysterious "accident," Sten rebelled, harassing the Company from the metal world's endless mazelike warrens. Sten would have ended up just another burnt-out Delinquent if he hadn't rescued a mysterious stranger who turned out to be his ticket off Vulcan—and an express ride back! Views: 5
Sure, you can root for Sherlock Holmes or Charlie Chan or Hugh Drummond. But I’ll take a good old-fashioned rogue over the lot of 'em any day. Boston Blackie, A.J. Raffles, the Lone Wolf, Thubway Tham, Mr. Clackworthy, Arsene Lupin -- they all hold a curious fascination, dabbling as they do in crime and punishment! So take a walk on the seamy side of the Victorian era. (And yes, we are cheating with my dates a little bit. But we wanted to include a few latter-day rogues whose adventures are in the spirit of the Victorian rogues.) All told, it's more than 1,900 pages of great reading! Views: 5
In this short story from the thrilling anthology FaceOff, bestselling authors Ian Rankin and Peter James—along with their most famous characters, John Rebus and Roy Grace—team up for the first time ever.Detectives John Rebus and Roy Grace could not be more different. Different generations, different backgrounds, and not to mention, they work 500 miles apart.The case that eventually brings them together centers on a crime that happened when Rebus was just a teenager in the 1960s—but it took place in Roy Grace’s stomping grounds in Brighton, England, at a time when violence erupted between rival gangs known as Mods and Rockers.Now, a deathbed confession in in Edinburgh brings Rebus and Grace together to investigate a cold case with a shocking twist.For more exciting pairs, check out all eleven stories in FaceOff! Views: 5
In the summer of 1946, the most wide-open town in America is Hot Springs, Arkansas, a city of ancient, legendary corruption. While the pilgrims take the cure in the mineral-rich 142-degree water that bubbles from the earth, the brothels and casinos are the true source of the town's prosperity. It is run by an English-born gangster named Owney Maddox, who represents the New York syndicate and rules his empire like a Saxon lord while sporting an ascot and jodhpurs. But it is all about to be challenged. A newly elected county prosecutor wants to take on the big boys and save the city's soul (he also wouldn't mind being the next governor). He begins a war on the gambling interests and, knowing the war will be long and bloody, hires an ex-Marine sergeant, Earl Swagger, who won the Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima, to run it. Swagger knows how to fight with guns as well as any man in the world. But he is haunted: the savage fighting he just barely survived and the men he left behind in the Pacific still shadow his mind, leaving a terrible melancholy. There are even darker memories: a murdered father who beat him mercilessly and drove a younger brother to suicide. And he's torn by his own impending fatherhood, as his wife, Junie, nears term. It isn't that Earl Swagger is afraid of dying; more scary still, it's possible that he yearns for it. The gangsters fight back, setting up a campaign of ambush and counterambush in the brothels, casinos and alleys of the City of the Vapors. Raids erupt into full-out combat amid screaming prostitutes and fleeing johns. The body count mounts. Meanwhile, the politics behind the war are shifting: Will the prosecuting attorney stick with his raiders orsell them out to curry favor with the state's political machine? Will Owney Maddox defeat the raiders but lose a personal battle against a cunning rival from the West who foresees a Hot Springs in the Nevada desert as the future franchise city of organized crime? But most important, will Earl Swagger survive yet another hard war, not merely with his body but also with his soul intact? Packed with page-turning action, sex, sin and crime, Stephen Hunter's "Hot Springs" is at once a relentlessly violent and deeply touching story. Views: 5
Jack Vance is one of the most remarkable talents to ever grace the world of science fiction. His unique, stylish voice has been beloved by generations of readers. One of his enduring classics is his Mazirian the Magician (previously titled The Dying Earth), and its sequels—a fascinating, baroque tale set on a far-future Earth, under a giant red sun that is soon to go out forever. Cugel the Clever is a novel-length adventure of Cugel the trickster, the thief, the very questionable hero in this decadent, dying world. Caught by the magician whose house he was robbing, Cugel is set the task of retrieving certain rare objects as penance. Views: 5
