Following hot on the heels of Peter Tremayne’s popular sleuth Sister Fidelma is Mara, wise brehon (judge) of
the people of the Burren. On Beltane Eve people eagerly climb up the slopes of Mullaghmore Mountain to light the
bonfire and have a good time. Then they come down again... but one man remains behind because he has been murdered.
Mara must find out whodunit, and discovers that just about everybody had a reason to wish the victim dead.
Reading this book is like stepping into a warm bath, portraying as it does a near-perfect community where for
the most part people live in harmony with their neighbors, the laws are sensible and humane and women can have
careers and obtain divorces.
Unfortunately, I do not know enough about Ireland in this period to
be able to tell how factual this actually is, and reading it had
me in the same pensive state I am in when I read one of Peter Tremayne’s
books. This aside, Ms Harrison weaves a compelling yarn and has
painted in a lush and appealing backdrop for it. Mara teaches a
law school where her students range in age from ten to eighteen,
looking after them more like a mother than a teacher. Jolly King
Turlough Don O’Brien comes calling, and Mara settles disputes among
her neighbors, tends her pretty garden and hunts wolves with her
wolfhound Bran. It is the sort of book that one is sad to end, as
it paints such an appealing picture of how life ought to be that
the series is bound to have great appeal, and run and run. If you
want a feel-good read, this is definitely the feel-good book of
2007 so far.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
My
Lady Judge #1
Michaelmas
Tribute #2
The
Sting of Justice #9
Verdict
of the Court #11
Condemned
to Death #12
A
Fatal Inheritance #13