2024 #37 The Outlaw's Tale - Sister Frevisse #3 (Frazer)

 

The Outlaw's Tale by Margaret Frazer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third installment of Margaret Frazer's Sister Frevisse series, The Outlaw's Tale is the best of the first three. This is my first time going to an audiobook for a volume in the series, and the experience was overwhelmingly positive. Susan Duerden's reading is excellent, and her voicings make the characters come alive.

Particularly striking in this book are the female characters who, very much beholden to their time, still manage a subtle defiance that flies under the radar. Frazer* doesn't resort to a clichéd feminist who is self-righteous and outspoken (not that it is a problem, but it gets tiresome as a trope), but instead illuminates what must have been much more common behavior in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. After all, when faced with a sword, even the most strong-willed might step aside if not equally armed. (
*Frazer = sadly deceased Gail Frazer with Mary Monica Pulver/aka Monica Ferris)

Sister Emma grates on our nerves and I did find dragging out her illness to be a bit tedious, but the audiobook really brought out the subtle and dry wit that accompanies much of Dame Frevisse's inner thoughts, particularly in regard to Emma. After the last book being VERY obsessed with the sickness that had taken over the convent, I was not enthused about a constant return to Sister Emma's "rheume."

There are some wonderful descriptions, including that of Dame Frevisse's uncle who has a "look about him that he belongs where he was." For whatever reason, the audiobook seemed to highlight these particular moments of character definition and description, and it is delightful.

Dame Frevisse has more opportunity for character development here because she's away from the convent, and she becomes embroiled (embroils herself, really) in a situation involving her cousin. There is a lot of self-reflection in regard to the choices she makes and that helps give her more dimensionality than was revealed in the previous two books.

I'm more excited to continue the series than I was, and I hope that the rest of the series continues with the same level of character definition and plot complexity. Unlike book 2, The Servant's Tale, which had so many characters it was hard to stay focused, this story does a much better job of focusing on a few key characters, with a good pacing of introduction to new ones, and actually threw me off the scent of whodunnit, so brava!

View all my reviews

2024 #23 The Servant's Tale - Dame Frevisse #2 (Frazer)

 

The Servant's Tale by Margaret Frazer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A good second installment in the Sister Frevisse series, probably more of a 3.5 or 3.75 for me. The servant, Meg, works for the nuns at St. Frideswide as a scullery maid. Her husband, the drunken Barnaby, is allegedly killed in an accident when his cart collides with a troupe of actors. Soon to follow are two more deaths, and the acting troupe is in the frame. Frazer highlights the social and class biases at play against the troupe and we get more character development of Sister Frevisse and the head of the convent, Domina Edith, as well as Dame Claire, the apothecary/medical person for the convent. I found the development slow, as many pages are given over to sitting around dead bodies, although this does prove important to the story. It is probably best read in just a few sittings to keep track of some of the smaller details, not all of which necessarily lean toward the "whodunnit" aspect, but provide a lovely and clever sense of connectivity. Motives seem weak for all possible suspects, and that is a bit frustrating as we don't learn the actual motive until the very end, which always seems a bit of a cop-out to me. There are not a lot of clues in this one--but plenty of deception.

View all my reviews

2023 #16: The Novice's Tale - Sister Frevisse #1 - (Frazer)

 

The Novice's Tale by Margaret Frazer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As much a fan as I am of Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma series, I think it has met its match with Frazer's Sister Frevisse. Frazer's sense for character development is obvious at the outset, and she manages to create a colorful cast of characters who are not caricatures. Pious Thomasine becomes a murder suspect when her aunt Lady Ermentrude--who I pictured like the Red Queen from Alice and Wonderland--succumbs to her own "strange and sudden death" (that's from the back cover, so I'm not counting it as a spoiler!). There is also Dame Claire, the herbalist and someone who deserves a large bit of credit, as does the entire convent of St. Frideswide, and their leader Domina Edith. One of the contrasts with Tremayne's series is that Sister Frevisse, while a major player, is not the only player. Granted, given the fifteenth-century setting and the Benedictine context, Frazer has less to explain than Tremayne with his seventh-century tensions between the Roman and Irish churches. Those who like fast-moving plots may be a bit frustrated here, but Frazer does an artful job of making everything matter! Take your time with this one--enjoy each and every character as they are all important here and there. Quite a great first book in the series--I'll be reading the rest!

View all my reviews