Tangled Web UK Review July 2008
Hangman Blind by
Cassandra Clark
pbk out April 08
(John Murray)
at £11.99
This is from a new writer and is the first of a series of historical mysteries under the sub-title An Abbess of Meaux Mystery. This is the first mystery, as there is no abbess of Meaux in the book, the abbot being named as Hubert de Courcy (though historically at that time it was William of Scarborough). I assume that in future books, the heroine nun Hildegard will become the abbess, though in this one she is engaged in trying to set up her own mini-priory of seven nuns.
The action takes place in Yorkshire in 1382, a time of unease and turmoil following the failed Peasant’s Revolt and the killing of Wat Tyler and John Ball. Hildegard is a rich widow who has taken the veil in the Cistercian priory of Swyne and is seeking a suitable grange for her new institution. Hoping to obtain a gift of such premises, she goes to Castle Hutton where she was apparently brought up, though the author is not very forthcoming about her origins or why husband Hugh was killed in France. Roger, the lord of Hutton, and his fifth wife Melisen make her welcome, but there are numerous family problems, both with his brother Ralph and brother-in-law William. It is Christmas and the revelries are disrupted by various incidents, including Roger apparently dropping dead across his own feasting table.
The convoluted plot goes from crisis to crisis with Hildegard narrowly escaping indecent assault and murder. The tale ends well enough, but with sufficient loose ends to carry over to the next book, when
I think the author needs to be a little more explicit in her explanations, especially if it continues the story without sufficient background, as she cannot expect every reader to have already read ‘Hangman’.
The writing is good and there is certainly plenty of excitement, which I doubt would have happened to many Cistercian nuns allowed to wander the countryside alone. It is too easy to nit-pick details, but Ms Clark needs to check her timings, as people sallying forth in ‘late afternoon’ on a short November day for several hours’ exciting adventures at a distant burning mill, can hardly return home ‘in late afternoon’. Neither would a horseman ‘riding furiously’ from Avignon to Dijon take the better part of a fortnight to cover less than 250 miles. However, these and number of historical inconsistencies, do not detract from a promising debut in this increasingly popular genre.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
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