Mistress of the Art of Death
Berkley Trade - Berkley Trade
Release date: 2008-01-29
Paperback
Author: Ariana Franklin
American Historical Fiction, Fiction, Fiction - Historical, Fiction / Historical, Historical - General, 1133-1189, Cambridge (England), Henry, II,, King of England,, Women forensic pathologists
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Mistress of the Art of Death
Date undefinedAriana Franklin (a pseudonymn) starts off her Adelia Aguilar mystery series with "Mistress Of the Art Of Death".
Taking place in 12th Century Britain, we find ourselves thrust into a dark period of history filled with religious intolerance. Described as "CSI meets the Cantebury Tales", Adleia is the expert medical practitioner specializing in determining cause of death and her expertise is now being used in the case of three children who were crucified to death.
While being very interesting and full of historical references, this tale has little to no mystery about it (I found the killer to be quite obvious) and there is hardly any tension. It is a good story on its own merit and worthy of a read. I only hope the suceeding books in this series have a little more thrill to them.
Mistress of the Art of Death
Date undefinedA book with a title such as this one, about a female doctor from Salerno solving mysteries in Britain during the reign of Henry II, certainly tantalizes the imagination. I didn't think it could fail to entertain.
And yet it did. The plot, by turns a history lesson and a mysterious reveal, was erratic and short of compelling. Adelia, the doctor/sleuth masquerading as a the doctor's helper, suspects everyone and her internal dialogue cues the reader to plot developments that consistently fall short of their promise.
I read this book on a plane, and usually, anything to read is better than nothing. Yet time after time, I drowsed off--the narrative would capture my interest momentarily and then meander off on some obscure tangent about primitive medical science or geographic analysis of chalk. (This book mentions chalk more than an essay on the art of teaching with a chalkboard). Despite my good intentions, Ariana Franklin's tale failed to keep my attention. Many of the characters and events seemed to serve as opportunities for Franklin to dazzle us with her historical knowledge or attention to medieval medical detail, rather than to create a tight, well-crafted mystery tale.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the 'reveal', where our heroine catches the bad guy. The scene itself, told in an odd combination of clinical and unnecessarily graphic brush strokes, offends without terrifying.
Save your time and money.
Mistress of the Art of Death
Date undefinedI was turned off by some of the comments shown on the back of the book. The idea of a medieval CSI character really doesn't interest me. The Historical Dagger Award was what convinced me to give this book a chance and I am glad for it.
The characters are likeable and there is a sound plot that will grab on and hold your attention. This read contains the harshness of the medieval period so beware.
Easy to recommend this book.
