The
Outlaw's Tale
Dame
Frevisse Medieval Mystery, # 13
by Margaret Frazer
Following on from The Servant's Tale (also reviewed on this site), here is another
early tale of Dame Frevisse, published in 1994, available now for the first time in the
UK, thanks to Robert Hale. Frevisse is accompanying chatty Sister Emma to the christening
of her godchild, when the little party is ambushed by outlaws. Frevisse is amazed to find
that their leader is her own cousin, Nicholas, cast out and disinherited years ago from
her influential family. Nicholas wants her uncle, Thomas Chaucer, to grant he and his
men a pardon so that they can come in from the cold. She agrees to his request. But a
chilly wet night sleeping out in the open is too much for frailer Sister Emma, who catches
a chill and soon becomes very ill. Frevisse and Emma have little choice but to agree to
Nicholas' plan that they stay with a business associate, one Master Payne. However, things
might have been quieter in the woods, as there is soon a violent murder.
Each of Margaret Fraser's masterly books has a different focus, which
is a fun way of learning about the Middle Ages. In this one, she
shows how a member of the small but growing middle class lived in
a world between the more usually portrayed peasantry and the nobility.
As usual, it starts off in a fairly "cozy" vein, but soon gathers
momentum and ends up being anything but, thus possibly pleasing
a whole ranges of tastes. In Frazer's early books, the crime and
the background get equal billing, which makes for a fine and balanced
work of fiction. This is miles away from the genre's perhaps more
usual swings, to either mystery but little history, or the other
way about. Again, this is not a "puzzle" whodunit in the classic
style, but a meticulous recreation of not only how people lived
more than five hundred years ago, but how they loved, suffered and
sinned. Just the thing for anybody who usually disparages the genre
to show how well it can be done, in the right hands.
Reviews of other titles in this series
The
Servant's Tale, 2
The
Outlaw's Tale, 3
The
Bishop's Tale, 4
The
Prioress’s Tale, 7
The
Bastard’s Tale, 12
The
Hunter's Tale, 13
The
Sempster's Tale, 15
The
Traitor’s Tale, 16
|
The Book |
Robert
Hale |
July
2005 |
Hardback |
0709078668 |
Historical
[1434 Oxfordshire, UK] |
More
at Amazon.com |
The Reviewer |
Rachel
A Hyde |
Reviewed
2005 |
|