Smoke in the Wind by Peter TremayneMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was truly on the fence about this one. I'm keeping it for the Historical Note that prefaces the book and serves as a Welsh and Irish pronunciation guide--absolutely terrific. I loved the multicultural aspect of the story: Saxon, Welsh, Irish and as usual, the historical context is robust and well-explained. What failed me here was the mystery itself. Perhaps there were too many strands. The typical Fidelma exposé was a bit too contrived--she seemed to have a lot of historical knowledge about specific people's lives and I'm not sure where it all came from. There are several murderers and I thought the more nuanced ideas of "culpability" added a lot. But the story did not really hold my interest because I had a hard time keeping track of who or what I was supposed to care about. That said, the last chapter or so seemed to pick up speed and focus, and I enjoyed Fidelma's dramatic "reveal" more than I usually do. Tremayne teases a bit more out of the relationship between Fidelma and Eadulf here too, but fully ignores it at times unless it is convenient. Eadulf struggles with his own identity as a Saxon in this story, and that provides a really nice bit of character definition, but Fidelma's struggles were not wholly convincing, even when explained at the end in the Epilogue.
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