“The Witch’s Trinity” by Erika Mailman

“The Witch’s Trinity” by Erika Mailman
2007, Hodder & Stroughton, Ltd
ISBN: 978-0-340-96221-3

This is a scary book. It’s a story of fiction, but the events that unfold are true. We know of the Inquisition. We know women had a hard time of it in the 16th century. We know the hunt for witches was sweeping. What Erika Mailman tells in this story is what it might really have looked like.

During times of hardship many people become what might be thought of as their baser selves. Suddenly generosity and good will in times of plenty does not exist anymore and it becomes a dog eat dog world. Hardship, desperation, famine can bring out the worst in people and this is what happens in this book.

What is interesting to me is to see normal people, people who are most definitely not witches, tap into what might be construed other than normal behaviors. As a psychic I recognize that people can communicate in their dreams, that messages not understood by the conscious self can be delivered by the unconscious self, that astral traveling is a very real thing.

I mourn for those who endured the trials. I am sorry for the role the church played in the Inquisition. I sincerely hope those who hear of these times from history know the importance of not repeating those same lessons. And, I am so very glad in my heart that I can live a life where I can talk to dead people and not be condemned to die in flames.

Read, “The Witch’s Trinity” and you will be drawn into a story told in the manner of a woman who lived in the early 1500’s. You will be able to relate easily to these people even though more than 500 years separate you from her life. As a psychic I know you lived even then. Be reminded of what it was like and hope it never happens again.

“Belladonna at Belstone” by Michael Jecks

"Belladonna at Belston" by Michael Jecks
1999, Headline Book Publishing
ISBN: 0-7472-6361-2

“Belladonna at Belstone” by Michael Jecks is a Medieval mystery. The story centers on an investigation into a murder at a convent. It was interesting to me how the religious people were portrayed. It was as if they were the kinds of people you might meet now, and yet, there was the placing of them back in time to Medieval times.

I suppose everybody has their ideas about how religious people are and the truth is much different than what we might suppose. The same seems to happen to folks in “Belladonna at Belstone”.

What starts as one murder escalates and it begins to look as if nobody is safe anymore. Everybody, it seems, at St. Mary’s had the motive and the opportunity to do these bad deeds. At the heart of the story are the two men doing the investigating, Simon and Sir Baldwin. The other key player in the story is Lady Elizabeth, the prioress of St. Mary’s at Belstone. She is being made to look the scapegoat for both the bad condition the convent is in and for the murder.

The twists and turns in this story were great. I really had no clue who the bad guy was going to end up being until the end. Good book.

"The Reeve's Tale" by Margaret Frazer

"The Reeve's Tale" by Margaret Frazer
1999, Berkley Publishing Group
ISBN: 0-425-17232-5

In “The Reeve's Tale” by Margaret Frazer you are doubly gifted in the sense that you get to puzzle out a murder mystery along with the folks in the tale and you get to experience a sense of what life must have been like during medieval times. Deep thought and a sense of historical correctness accompany you while you read so that if you had never given it a second thought you now know a whole lot more about times medieval than you did before.

This is the third book I’ve read where we get to accompany Sister Frevisse as she is pulled away from her cloistered life as a nun to be involved in things worldly wicked. Dame Frevisse is sort of like a clerical Peter Falk; she observes, asks questions and when she has all her ducks in order is able to piece together a murder that has had the entire village baffled.

I’ve met characters in "The Reeve's Tale" that appear in the other books I’ve read by Margaret Frazer and even though I’ve been reading them out of sequence it does not affect the story in any way. Reading these books is relaxing for me. I am able to step out of myself for a time and just be with other folk. I recommend this book.

“Mystique” by Amanda Quick

“Mystique” by Amanda Quick
1995, Bantam
ISBN: 0-553-57159-1

Medieval knight, Sir Hugh the Relentless is feared by all. All except Alice, a saucy green eyed, red haired woman, who would seek to bargain her way out of an intolerable situation for herself and her brother. Alice is a healer and is as effective at it in medieval times as any physician in our own. She combines known medical knowledge with keen powers of observation to help heal the pain Hugh has borne since he was a boy.

Amanda Quick has themes that run through many of her books. I never tire of them. She is like an artist who seeks to capture just that one beautiful moment when the light streams into a meadow. And, she paints it over and over again. So, too, with “Mystique” do the themes of powerful self-esteem not only for women, but for everyone come through, but so does confidence.

Of course there is mystery and intrigue in this story. There is a legend to live up to and the requisite happy ending that is a must for me. Most importantly, this is the story of love that happens, that blooms, that grows and that matures with time between a strong and unyielding knight and his resourceful and practical lady wife. And, as with all of Amanda Quick’s books there is a vein of humor that runs throughout. I guarantee that you will laugh and that you will cry reading this book. I know I have all the many times I’ve read it through the years. “Mystique” is truly a treasure of a book.

Amanda Quick is the pen name Jayne Ann Krentz uses when she writes her historical romances.

"The Squire's Tale" by Margaret Frazer

The Squire's Tale by Margaret Frazer. Berkley; Reissue edition (December 1, 2001) ISBN-13: 978-0425182710

The Squire's Tale by Margaret Frazer is an absolutely delightful medieval who-done-it with the starring investigator of Dame Frevisse. She's a nun and like other people in fiction serials who are good at solving crimes also appears to find herself in the midst of them time after time. As my husband says occasionally when we watch other who-done-it shows on television, "They ought to lock her up."

This is the second of Margaret Frazer's tales I've read and, as with the first, I was captivated. This is not just your everyday who-done-it. This shows into the heart of times medieval, of the 1400's. It looks at spirituality that never gets old. It looks at the place of women in the society of medieval times.

At the end I cried. It was also a love story and, for me, the mark of a "good" book is that I cry at the end.

As time goes by I expect to see more reviews for this author. You can read more about Margaret Frazer on Wikipedia.

An interesting side note to my reading of this book relates to the first one I read. I'd spotted her books some time before in the library, however, at the time I had a full load to read and there wasn't room right then to select one of her books. But, I remembered some time later that I wanted to read one of Margaret's books. Except, I couldn't find them in the library. I knew they were located in the mystery section. So, I passed back and forth looking. The problem was I also couldn't remember the name of the author. A lady joined me in the stacks looking for her own mystery and I asked her if she knew of a writer of medieval mysterys with a nun as the lead character. No, she was sorry, but she didn't know and right at that very instant my eyes looked down to the lower shelf right in front of us and I spied the books in question. I thanked her for her help. She protested that she hadn't helped me at all and I said, "No, but you did. If I hadn't stopped to speak with you I would never have found them today."