Ireland, 670, and no-longer-Sister Fidelma and her husband Brother Eadulf are tasked with investigating the dead body of a murderer nobleman, found in a river not far from Cashel. With the only hint of the body’s identity being an emblem from the nearby kingdom of Laign, Fidelma and Eadulf follow this slight clue, never expecting what is to follow.

As the trail leads to more bodies, and the abduction of Fidelma, it is clear this is more than just a simple murder. As the trail leads to a monastery that seems more like a military fortress than a holy seat of learning, it seems there is nowhere safe to catch a breathe to try and establish the truth – what is going on in Laign and who is the prime mover at the heart of the plan?

Urgh, suffering from an horrendous cold at the mo, so I thought I’d head back to a comfort read. As it’s been an age since I visited the Fidelma series, I thought it was time to give it another go. There’s a reason that I’ve not been back for a while after the series was at one point a mainstay on the blog, as the mysteries in the plot had been becoming a smaller aspect of the novel as opposed to the conspiracies and politics. The early books were excellently constructed mysteries, even when they involved multiple locations, whereas I felt the later ones found it harder to keep a mystery plot going.

And to an extent, this is the case here too. For the most part, the question is “what is going on?” rather than “whodunnit” and it’s only late in the day when we get an inkling as to what sort of “who” we’re looking for. And even then, I defy anyone to have worked out the “who” as it’s fair to say that the character doesn’t have a massively high page count.

But having said all that, I can’t deny that I really enjoyed this one. My first response when I finished it, despite being disappointed with the revelation, was to pick up another one – don’t worry, I put it down as I don’t do the same author twice in a month any more.

I don’t think this is the best place to start the series – go back to the beginning and try Absolution By Murder – but fans of the series will enjoy this one.

NB I skipped Behold A Pale Horse as while it was published between The Chalice Of Blood and this, it’s a prequel. Not sure why that was an issue – I’ll get back to it, but as I’ve twelve years of Fidelma to catch up on, there’s no rush.