The Clerk's Tale by Margaret Frazer

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When she accompanies her prioress on a mercy visit to a nunnery, Dame Frevisse becomes entangled in an inheritance dispute, a family feud, and the aftermath of a brutal murder in this new addition to Margaret Frazer's medieval mystery series.

From the Publisher

St. Mary's nunnery is a place of prayer and healing for women-so it is surprising to see a man sprawled out in the cloister garden. Dead. The victim was not especially well-liked-even by his wife and clerk. Now, Dame Frevisse must step in and solve the killing. But her real challenge is to put aside her feelings and serve justice for the murder of an unjust man.

Publishers Weekly

Edgar-nominee Frazer delivers another well-wrought tale of intrigue and murder in her 11th novel (after 2001's The Squire's Tale) to feature nun and amateur sleuth Dame Frevisse. Here our heroine travels with the prioress of St. Frideswide's priory to the town of Goring, where on arrival they learn that Master Montfort has been murdered in the cloister garden of St. Mary's. (The jacket art nicely depicts the scene of the crime.) Montfort's son asks for Frevisse's aid in finding the murderer, which proves no easy task. Montfort, escheater assigned to settle a dispute over the inheritance of certain properties, wasn't liked by anyone, including his wife and clerk. Delving into the relationships of those connected to the victim and those involved in the inheritance dispute, Frevisse uncovers a complex case. Another death brings all the suspects together for a dramatic and surprising conclusion. As usual, Frazer vividly recreates the medieval world through meticulous attention to historical detail. From spectacles to wimples, to the kidney dagger that killed Montfort and the Goring river ferry now replaced by a bridge, she exhibits remarkable scholarship. The story, like others in the series, alternates between the points-of-view of Frevisse and the title character, here Master John Gruesby, the mild-mannered clerk whose security rests in his ink pots and papers. While some may find the evolution of the plot slow, history aficionados will delight in every page and committed fans will rejoice that the devout yet human Dame Frevisse is back. (Jan. 8) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The January spring of 1446 finds Dame Frevisse (The Squire's Tale, 2000, etc.) and her prioress off on an errand of mercy that disintegrates into a murder case muddier than the road to Goring. Apparently Frevisse's longtime nemesis Morys Montfort, now corrupt escheator for the king, got fatally overinvested in his duties settling an inheritance fight. But why would he have been stabbed in a nunnery's infirmary garden, a place for healing women? When Frevisse arrives on the heels of Montfort's relieved family, she is housed across the street from St. Mary Priory with feisty widow Lady Agnes, party to the wrangle over her grandson Stephen's legal rights. Not only is Stephen's legitimacy at issue; his affections are torn between his child bride Nichola, presented as part of a land package, and his paramour Juliana, a lusty young widow who should be supporting her mother on the other side of the property battle. Montfort's clerk, Master John Gruesby, comfortable only when he's invisible, now alone knows the secret of Stephen's birth, but still can't bring himself to act. So nothing in this tangled case comes clear until a second bloody death.

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Table of Contents