The other day I finished yet another Margaret Frazer mystery, The Boy’s Tale. Frazer’s sleuth is the niece of Chaucer and she is a nun at St. Frideswide’s. The boy, for whom the book it titled, is the half brother of King Henry (V or IV, I confuse the Henrys.) King Henry’s mother, after the death of his father, has married Owen Tudor and had three children (plus one on the way,) but she has done so without the permission of the court. If she’d been Welsh this wouldn’t have been a problem. In fact, if she’d been anyone other than the Queen Dowager this wouldn’t have been a problem. Once the fact that she has remarried and had children comes out she sends the older two to Wales to stay with their father’s kin and the baby in another direction. This is not only historical fact, but also where the mystery starts.

The party fleeing with the children is attacked near St Frideswide’s and the woman in charge of the boys takes them to the priory for sanctuary. The knight charged with protecting the party has taken a serious wound to his sword shoulder causing the party to have to stay at St Frideswide’s while he heals.

This is where Frazer starts to glow. The first attempt on the boys looks like an accident. The second attempt is no accident. Then a member of the party is murdered. Each action is a natural progression. Each character has wants, needs, and desires down to young Lady Adela Warrenne. The mystery is engaging and no easy to figure out. In fact, I never did figure it out on my own and if you’ve read any of my other mystery reviews you know I usually have them solved by the third chapter (and if you didn’t know before, you know now.) In this one I actually had the pleasure of finding out who the murderer was with the rest of the characters

The subplot concerns Domina Edith. She is the head of the priory and has been for many years. So many years that she is at her death bed. She has always been a steady hand leading her flock of sometimes difficult sisters. If you don’t want to know anything more skip to the next paragraph. At the end of the book, when the murderer had been apprehended and the excitement is over a bell starts to toll. Sister Frevisse is confused until she realized that the bell tolls for Domina Edith. That scene brought tears to my eyes. I had gotten so caught up in the lives of the sisters that a death in their midst made me want to grieve with them.

If you like mysteries or if you like rather gentle stories (throughout the murder and the chaos it’s still pretty gentle,) you will like this one. I’m beginning this think she might be as good as Ellis Peters after all.




Recommended: Yes