The Law of Angels

February 21, 2011
The unsettled political situation in England, three years after the suppression of Wat Tyler's revolt in 1381, forms the backdrop for Clark's less than successful third historical featuring Sister Hildegard (after 2009's The Red Velvet Turnshoe). Hildegard has established a minor religious cell in quiet Deepdale, but the tranquility of her new community is disturbed when mysterious armed men attack two guests, Maud and Petronilla ("little more than children"), who avoid death only by chance. Maud, fearing that the men were seeking her, reveals that she escaped some marauders who destroyed her home and slaughtered her five-year-old brother. Hildegard and the girls seek safety in York, where Hildegard gets entangled in murderous intrigue involving the Cross of Constantine, which she found in Turnshoe. With its pacing on the slow side and a not especially creative plot, this entry suffers in comparison to its two high-quality predecessors.

April 15, 2011

Sister Hildegard again defends the innocent amid political intrigue in medieval Yorkshire (The Red Velvet Turnshoe, 2009, etc.).

Hildegard has had a year of peaceful labor, living her long-cherished dream of founding a cell of nuns. The sisters tend their beehives and flocks and happily offer the same care to two wayward girls: Petronilla, a pretty, chatty teenager, and the silent peasant child Maud. Their calm is shattered when armed men destroy the grange—the same men who ravaged Maud's family and farm. Under John of Gaunt's cruel rule, a knight may pillage a manor to claim it, but why ride for miles to track down a serfling? To protect Maud, Hildegard takes the girls to the great town of York to bring charges against the predators. The city is abuzz with the summer heat, the grim anniversary of the hanging of rebel Wat Tyler and the upcoming festival of Corpus Christi. Hildegard's abbess sends her the Cross of Constantine, the relic Hildegard recovered the year before, and bids her take it to the archbishop. When Hildegard obeys, the cross is stolen. Then Hildegard witnesses an inexplicable explosion in a crowded market stall. Was it set by rebels or by rulers seeking to frame them? Hildegard must find justice for Maud, recover the powerful holy relic and untangle the machinations of the rebels and their enemies, all before the great feast day crowds the city to its breaking point.

Intricately plotted and rich in vivid historical detail, the three interlocking mysteries create an engrossing, fascinating tale.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from April 1, 2011

Abbess Hildegard's quiet stay in rural medieval Yorkshire is disrupted when Brother Thomas brings her two young girls to protect. Clearly, her charges need protecting because soon the small religious community is on the run, their peaceful home destroyed by villains on horseback. The secrets one of the girls carries endanger them all, so the nuns and their charges find shelter in nearby York, which is set to celebrate a summer religious feast. Against a backdrop of pageantry and political intrigue, Hildegard survives enough close calls and knife attacks to make any contemporary protagonist proud. VERDICT Social injustice and intrigue are irresistible in a mystery dripping in medieval history. The third entry (after Hangman Blind and The Red Velvet Turnshoe) in this stellar series can be read as a stand-alone work, but most readers will want to learn more about the intrepid Hildegard's earlier exploits. We know more are in the making. Highly recommended for fans of medieval mysteries like Ellis Peters's Brother Cadfael series. [Library marketing.]

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2011
Clark continues the excellent Abbess of Meaux series with another ominous installment featuring a suitably intrepid and intelligent heroine. As Hildegard labors to turn a small grange in Yorkshire into a minor cell of her Cistercian mother house, murder, treason, and heresy loom on the horizon. While on the national stage, John Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, schemes to usurp King Richard, on the provincial stage, a rogue band of religious dissidents threatens the already uneasy peace of the village as it prepares for the festive mystery plays. As murder, mayhem, and intimidation swirl about, it is up to Hildegard to keep her keen wits about her to safeguard her own small corner of Britain during the tumultuous summer of 1384. Hildegard is further proof that strong medieval women do not retreat to the convent to hide but rather to practice self-sufficiency and flex their substantial intellectual muscles.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)