Amazon.co.uk Review
Once upon a not so long ago, historical crime novels were a rare breed. In the dizzying profusion of such titles at present (with anywhere from ancient Rome to Renaissance Italy a fit locale for dark deeds and pre-Holmes detectives), a certain panache is needed to make a new entry rise above the crop. Candace Robb has demonstrated in such novels as
The Apothecary Rose and
The King's Bishop that her Owen Archer mysteries are worthy successors to the groundbreaking medieval novels of Ellis Peters, full of satisfyingly convoluted plotting.
A Trust Betrayed inaugurates a new series of mysteries set in Scotland at the time of Robert the Bruce. In the spring of 1297, Margaret Kerr is afraid that her merchant husband Roger has been caught up in the pending rebellion against the English. Her husband's cousin and factor, Jack Sinclair, agrees to try to locate Roger in the dangerous city of Edinburgh. When he is found murdered, Margaret undertakes to solve the mystery herself, but she quickly discovers that Scotland at war is a very dangerous place for a woman alone. Apart from the effortless conjuring up of historical detail (a sine qua non of the genre), Robb is particularly acute at dealing with issues, such as the place of women in this troubled society: without ever making Margaret a proto-feminist, she cannily examines attitudes to gender in the distant past while never forgetting the imperatives of a rattling yarn. --
Barry Forshaw
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
It is the spring of 1297, and young wife Margaret Kerr is desperately afraid. Her merchant husband Roger has been missing since Martinmas. Has he been caught up in the swelling rebellion against the English? Is he even alive? Jack Sinclair, her husband's cousin and factor, has pledged to try to locate Roger in the city. When he is found stabbed to death, Margaret resolves she must ride to Edinburgh herself to uncover the truth. But Scotland is a country at war, Edinburgh an occupied city. With English soldiers patrolling the streets, it is no place for a woman alone. Margaret's mission is frowned upon, her arrival at her uncle's tavern unwelcome. And when she starts to ask questions she finds a city rife with closely guarded secrets and dangerous loyalties. Soon violence erupts outside the tavern and there is murder on their doorstep. Margaret discovers how little she had known either of Roger or Jack...
by Candace Robb
by Candace Robb
by Candace Robb
by Candace Robb
by Candace Robb
