Covenant with Hell: A Medieval Mystery

Royal’s 10th whodunit featuring Brother Thomas and Prioress Eleanor (after 2012’s Sanctity of Hate) perfectly mixes an accessible portrait of 1277 England—its culture and politics—with sympathetic characters and a suspenseful plot. Eleanor and Thomas embark on a pilgrimage from Tyndal to the shrine at Walsingham Priory in East Anglia. Shortly after they arrive, Thomas finds the broken body of Sister Roysia at the base of the Ryehill Priory bell tower, from which she just fell. The prioress of Ryehill, Ursell, is eager that her institution’s reputation not be tarnished by rumors that the nun took her own life, and pronounces the death an accident. But Thomas and Eleanor can’t ignore evidence of foul play—a fragment of cloth clutched in Roysia’s hand, indicating that she was not alone when she died. An impending visit from Edward I raises the stakes. Royal again demonstrates why she’s a worthy successor to Ellis Peters. (Dec.)