Customer Reviews
I'm an amature medievalists and I loved this book. - By: , 08 Apr 1999 
I'm not necessarily a fan of mysteries but I am fond of the 12th century. The Catherine LeVedneur books are some of the most interesting & well researched fictional accounts of the Middle Ages that I've ever read. For instance, I have researched a great deal about Abbot Suger's chapel but it was only through these novels that it all "clicked" & I felt like I was there.
A tedious, dilettantish foray in period mystery. Try again. - By: , 26 Jul 1998 
Our heroine, the Nun (aka Catherine), stumbles into the death of a stone-cutter during the building of the Abbot Suger's cathedralin Medieval France. With the aid of an itinerant, Anglo-Saxon stonecutter/student/?, with whom the Nun surprisingly develops a relationship - I am being sarcastic here - Catherine sets out to solve the mystery - and, oh yeah, to discover the whereabouts & condition of a stolen psalter. Along the way she encounters the usual "colorful" characters. The chief conceit of this novel is the relationship & intellects of Abelard & Heloise. We, the readers, are supposed to believe that the Nun is smart & capable of solving mysteries somehow because the combined intellects of the tragic twosome has rubbed off on her. (Were Abelard & Heloise renowned as sleuths?) The problem is that the Nun is quite unconvincing as a detective. Indeed, most of the novel has her careening from one situation & revelation to another quite as! if she hasn't a clue. And she gets to go lots of extraordinary places quite without trouble - as we know young nuns didin the Middle Ages. In one instance, she finds herself alonein the hut & nearlyin the clutches of a randy satanist! Shades of Harlequin romance! This is not a good mystery - nor is it a good read. The author seems intent on packing the odyssey of a young woman, whom she makes into a nun, with "color" without any real attention being paid to character & plot-development. But then again the "color" is not well-researched & we get modern impressions anachronized more than we get a sense of Medieval France. The author would do well to observe the ingredients of a Falconer or a Brother Caedfael, or perhaps, most pertinent of all, Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma. Context is good, but first come plot & characters. A half developed journey through the darkness of the Dark Ages framed by modern sensibilities just won't do. ! (Dr. Quinnin Cluny?) Very much not recommended.
Simply one of the best mystery writers - By: , 29 Mar 1997 I am a big mystery reader & I am very picky. I read & later re-read "Death Comes As Epiphany" & loved it. Ms. Newman brings out the complexities & simplicities of medieval France & inspired me to do some of my own source reading. Believable characters, evocative settings, & a mystery that fooled me. What more could you ask for?
