Dark Waters Rising

At the start of Clark’s serpentine 12th and final Hildegard of Meaux medieval mystery (after 2021’s Murder at Beaulieu Abbey), the Prioress of Swyne asks Hildegard, a Cistercian nun, to discover why the young novices whisper among themselves and seem so unsettled. As Hildegard tries to find out what motivates Bella and Rogella, rebellious twins who were clearly committed to a religious life against their will, a more immediate crisis arrives: a strange man banging on the door at night begging to be let inside. He claims to be a musician favored by Richard II and is now fleeing an assassin, but Hildegard doubts his story. Then a lay sister goes missing. The mysteries pile up, turning more violent, while a flood threatens to engulf the priory and at the very least cut the monastics off from help. Meanwhile, Hildegard also battles her attraction to the moody Hubert, Abbot de Courcy. The multistrand plot loses momentum in the middle, but the pace quickens toward the end as the action builds to a satisfying conclusion that brings resolutions that go to the heart of tension-riven 14th-century England. Readers will be sorry to see the last of the strong-willed Hildegard. (Nov.)