Discover Most Popular Audiobooks in Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

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Title: Unseemly Pursuits

Subtitle: The Concordia Wells Mysteries Book 2

Author: K.B. Owen

Narrator: Becket Royce

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-02-15

Publisher: K.B. Owen Mysteries

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

A deadly secret that won't stay buried....

It is the fall of 1896, and Miss Concordia Wells is hip-deep in the usual tumult of a lady professor's life: classes, clubs, student pranks, and the unending drama generated by the girls she lives with on campus. Complicating this normality is the new Lady Principal, whom the students have nicknamed "the Ogre". The woman seems bent on making Concordia's life miserable.

Events take a grave turn, however, when an ancient Egyptian amulet donated to the college mysteriously disappears, the donor is found murdered, and his daughter - Concordia's best friend - confesses to killing him.

Desperate for answers, Concordia unravels a 20-year-old secret, closely guarded by men now dead. But such secrets can be dangerous for the daughters left behind, including Concordia herself. Can she make sense of the mystery that has bound together their fates, before it's too late?

Members Reviews:

Concordia returns!

Having enjoyed the first book, I was delighted to have the chance to review this, the second of the Concordia Wells series.

The story opens with Concordia, the professor of literature, attending an exhibition of ancient artefacts in the newly opened College Gallery of Antiquities, (at this point I think I should add that it's best if the reader has read the first book, as this second one does build on the story from that). Concordia is not particularly enjoying herself, but when something goes missing things become more interesting.

As the blurb says, the donor of the missing artefact is found murdered and Concordias' best friend has confessed to the deed! Concordia can't help but get involved, but by doing so she uncovers many family secrets.

The relationship between Concordia and her mother, already strained and fragile, is put under further stress when these old secrets emerge.

Be warned, this is quite a complex tale but it is quite absorbing - apart from the final third where it does flag a little - however, it's a good story, plenty of twists and turns and with a satisfying ending, well worth a read.

Narrator

An excellent narration by Becket Royce, I do love her voice, it's rich and pleasant to the ear with a lovely cadence. the characters in this book display a lot of emotion which Becket captures perfectly without overdoing it. There are quite a few regional accents but, as far as I can tell, all seem perfectly executed.

The sound quality of this second book is superior to that of the first.

I was given this audiobook by the narrator, publisher or author in return for an honest review

Fun!

When I requested this book from Audiobookblast, I forgot that, while I loved the narration, the first book was not spectacular. The same very much holds true for this second book, also received through Audiobookblast. It has a complex and twisty plot involving Egyptian artifacts, old grudges, an all-girls production of Hamlet, and just a hint of romance I do like Concordia, but she spends a good deal of time sobbing into people's lapels and suffering chills up her spine (it happens a lot). There's also frequent recurrence of "heathenish pleasure"... The plot takes a rather gothic turn, but both heroine and author carry it off quite well.

Positions of authority in the ladies' school featured in the "Unseemly" series by K.B.

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Title: The Novel

Author: James A. Michener

Narrator: Alexander Adams

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-04-15

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 35 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In this riveting, ambitious novel from James A. Michener, the renowned chronicler of epic history turns his extraordinary imagination to a world he knew better than anyone: the world of books.

Lukas Yoder, a novelist who has enjoyed a long, successful career, has finished what he believes to be his final work. Then a tragedy strikes in his community, and he becomes obsessed with writing about it.

Meanwhile, Yoder's editor fights to preserve her integrity - and her author - as her firm becomes the target of a corporate takeover; a local critic who teaches literature struggles with his ambitions and with his feelings about Yoder's success; and a devoted reader holds the key to solving the mystery that haunts Yoder's hometown.

Critic Reviews:

"Michener explores some of the deepest issues raised by narrative literature." (The New York Times)

"A good, old-fashioned, sink-your-teeth-into-it story.... The Novel lets us see an unfamiliar side of the author, at the same time portraying the...complex relationship among editors, agents and writers." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

"Michener loves literature, and his information about some of his favorite reading is almost as alluring as his explanation of how to handle a manuscript." (Associated Press)

Members Reviews:

Great Book

I was pleasantly surprised to find Audible now has James Mitchener novels available. I read The Novel many years ago and it's a book I would recommend to friends. I enjoyed listening to it and still recommend to all my friends. Audible Rocks!

Great Michener style.

Loved the book and reader was very good. He flavored it very well with tone and inflections.

One of his best .

English professor and novelist merge seamlessly to tell an entertaining and thought provoking story. I will think about the books I read in a new way in the future.

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Title: American Tabloid

Author: James Ellroy

Narrator: Jeff Harding

Format: Unabridged

Length: 19 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-08-15

Publisher: Isis Publishing Ltd

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

It's 1958. America is about to emerge into a bright new age - an age that will last until the 1,000 days of John F. Kennedys presidency.

Three men move beneath the glossy surface of power, men allied to the makers and shakers of the era.

Peter Bondurant, Howard Hughes right-hand man, Jimmy Hoffas hit man. Kemper Boyd, employed by J. Edgar Hoover to infiltrate the Kennedy clan. Ward Littell, a man seeking redemption in Bobby Kennedys drive against organised crime.

The festering discontent of the age that burns brightly in these mens hearts will go into supernova as the Bay of Pigs ends in calamity, the mob clamours for payback, and 1,000 days end in brutal quietus in 1963.

Members Reviews:

Histrionics

Ellroy delivers machine gun prose as his narrative has you switching your allegiance from one lowlife to the next with a cast packed with enough historical facts and figures to almost make you believe that you've uncovered a secret layer to perhaps the most influential period in modern American history. Goodfellas meets LA Confidential meets The West Wing. Epic Skank.

Sheer brilliance

James Ellroy's writing is unique in its character and I just love it. The tale he tells in this trilogy is perhaps more fascinating to someone of my age who remembers the events covered and the personalities involved, however, anyone could be swept along with the pace and excitement of these books. For me though one person makes this audiobook a superb listen and that is the awesome Jeff Harding as narrator. He makes any book come alive for me and my wife and his ability to keep one interested through a very long book is sheer genius. We have listened to just about every Jeff Harding book on Audible that is over 10 hours long and eagerly await every new one. We have also tried to contact him to let him know just what pleasure he has brought us - but to no avail - so Jeff I hope you read reviews. I am now about to start on the third book in this trilogy and would recommend this series to everyone. It is gritty in places and perhaps a bit too graphic for some - but this is REAL. Full marks to author and narrator - thank you both.

Gripping "What if?" offering fresh eyes on JFK

Excellently researched and written account of the shadowy world of internal espionage that was rife in the years following WW2

Perfect narration of a near perfect novel

American Tabloid is a monster of a novel written in a distinctive, and powerful, voice.

I loved the book when I first read it, but the audio version is just so much more fun. The narrator is absolutely on the money for every individual voice, and the overall tone of the whole work.

It's a superb performance, and even if you have read the book, I would recommend this without hesitation. It's a hell of a ride.

Never a Dull Moment

Any additional comments?

Don't let the length of this book put you off. It rips along without a single pause for breath. Violent and profane. Supremely enjoyable. My first James Ellroy experience. Dig the narrator. Dig the crazy Kennedy accents.

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Title: A Poisonous Plot

Subtitle: The Twenty First Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew

Author: Susanna Gregory

Narrator: David Thorpe

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-04-15

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 44 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In 1358, over a century after its foundation in Cambridge, the college of Michael House is facing a serious shortfall of funds and competition from upstarts rivals such as Zachary Hostel. Their problems are made no easier by the hostility of the town's inhabitants, who favour the university moving away to the Fens.

This simmering tension threatens to break into violence when a well-known tradesman is found dead in one of the colleges. Matthew Bartholomew knows he was poisoned but cannot identify the actual substance, never mind the killer. He also worries that other illnesses and deaths may have been caused by the effluent from his sister's dye works.

Torn between loyalties to his kin and to his college, he fears the truth may destroy both his personal and professional lives, but he knows he must use his skills as a physician to discover the truth before many more lose their lives entirely.

Critic Reviews:

"Susanna Gregory writes with fluency and energy, avoids archaic vocabulary, despite her 14th-century setting and, having had a career as an academic, bases the stories in this enjoyable series on careful research." (Literary Review)

Members Reviews:

Never Stopped Laughing - My Favorite Series

This is another great book in the Matthew Bartholomew series about a Doctor in 17th Century Cambridge. Matthew, along with the Senior Proctor, Brother Michael must find oust what is causing the "debilitas" killing and sickening so many residents of Cambridge. In addition he must prevent his sister, Edith, from being attacked by townspeople over her factory for making dyes which are causing a ghastly smell, and also why town and gown are at each other's throat and on the verge of massive riot.

The duo of Mat and Brother Michael find themselves in one scrape after another. In addition the University, Michaelhouse, where they teach is on the verge of bankruptcy and needs to be rescued by finding a rich benefactor. Who is the sinister person causing all the trouble in the town by spreading lies and rumors? This is the main mystery to be solved, but there are many side mysteries along the way.

There are so many hilarious characters in the book that each chapter is a real treat. I have been reading the series since Book I and although this is 21 in the series, you can still enjoy it without having read the previous books. I am sorry that more of the series is not on audio, as I enjoy the series so much. I hate it when I read the end and find I enjoy listening to the book over again.

David Thorpe does an excellent job in reading. He gives all the characters unique voice which really bring out the personality of each character.

I love Susanna Gregory 's characters the are so vivid and funny

The narrator does not give Michael's voice the strength it needs which is disappointing. For that reason I was unhappy with the performance.

excellent story.

Well written and read story. I have always loved the characters and they were really brought to life by the narrator

A surfeit of voices?

Would you consider the audio edition of A Poisonous Plot to be better than the print version?

yes

What aspect of David Thorpes performance might you have changed?

His vocal characterisations

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laugh. If Ms.

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Title: Cradle to Grave

Author: Eleanor Kuhns

Narrator: Susie Berneis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-13-15

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Will Rees is adjusting to life on his Maine farm in 1797, but he's already hungering for the freedom of the road, and his chance to travel comes sooner than he expects. Lydia has just received a letter from her old friend Mouse, who now lives in the Shaker community in Mount Unity, New York.

To Lydia and Rees's astonishment, she's in trouble with the law. She's kidnapped five children, claiming that their mother is unfit to care for them. Despite the wintry weather and icy roads, Rees and Lydia set out for New York. There's nothing they can do for Mouse legally, though, and they reluctantly set out for home. But before they've travelled very far, they receive more startling news: Maggie Whitney has been found murdered, and Mouse is the prime suspect.

Members Reviews:

Best Will Rees yet

Will Rees gets a call for help from Mouse, one of the Shakers he met in Kuhns' first book, "A Simple Murder." She has been accused of kidnapping. It turns out that she was trying to rescue several children from a woman named Maggie who clearly struggles with alcoholism. While Rees and Lydia try to help Mouse and the kids, Maggie is murdered.

This is the best one yet in this series. I found the characters so compelling. One of the things I like best about this author is how she draws you into the time and place of the story so completely. The other thing is that the kids seem like real children - they are not overly sentimentalized versions like you frequently see in historical novels.

Weaver's Threads

This was a good read. The descriptions of 18th century village life in upstate New York and the rigid mores of the denizens were extremely vivid. Will and Lydia prove once again that they are astute, caring and perceptive as a couple working together to solve crime. We know a great deal about Will and his inner musings and feelings, but less about Lydia's life. I was surprised when certain miniscule references were made to her Boston past which was heretofore unmentioned. I hope that this was done as a hint of an upcoming book bringing the pair to the HUB city. As a fan of historical fiction I really enjoyed this mystery. Robert Colmenares

Poverty,Charity,Mystery and deceit

This book was a real page turner for me I enjoyed reading each night before bed often later than I should The expense of characters was well described and the mystery not portrayed till the very end.

Five Stars

Another good read.

Five Stars

One of the best writers of this time period. The settings, the descriptions and the story are thrilling.

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Title: The Fatal Flame

Author: Lyndsay Faye

Narrator: Kirby Heyborne

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-12-15

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 143 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Heralded by Gillian Flynn as "so spectacular...amazing", Lyndsay Faye is back with her biggest adventure yet!

No one in 1840s New York likes fires, but Copper Star Timothy Wilde least of all. So when an arsonist with an agenda begins threatening Alderman Robert Symmes, a corrupt and powerful leader high in the Tammany Hall ranks, Wilde isn't thrilled to be involved. His reservations escalate further when his brother, Valentine, announces that he'll be running against Symmes in the upcoming election, making both himself and Timothy a host of powerful enemies.

Meanwhile the love of Wilde's life, Mercy Underhill, unexpectedly shows up on his doorstep and takes under her wing a starving orphan with a tenuous grasp on reality. It soon becomes clear that this wisp of a girl may be the key to stopping those who have been setting fire to buildings across the city - if only they can understand her cryptic descriptions and find out what she knows. Boisterous and suspenseful, The Fatal Flame is filled with beloved Gotham personalities as well as several new stars, culminating in a fiery and shocking conclusion.

Members Reviews:

horrible narrator ruins good story

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If you have listened to the other books in this series you know how great the narrator was. Unfortunately this volume has a different narrator. A horrible narrator. No feeling in his voice, monotone, the characters suffer for it. They just don't seem like the characters we have grown to love. I listened for 30 minutes and had to shut it off. It just wasn't right with the new narrator. All the passion and liveliness was lost. It is always disappointing when a new narrator starts in the middle of a series but what makes it worse is when the narrator ruins a very good story. I will happily read this book, but I will not suffer through listening to this atrocity of a narrator.

How could the performance have been better?

go back to the original narrator

This is what it would sound like if Siri read a book....

I miss the narrator for the other Timothy Wild books in this series. This narrator is terrible. It sounds like a computer and not a human. Totally devoid of emotion and an odd lilting of voice that doesn't follow the natural flow of human voice.

Good story (as usual) - but I will have to read it because this is the worst narrator ever.

Excellent historical mystery

Lyndsay Faye's trilogy about New York City's first police is stunning -- well written with vibrant characters and authentic dialogue as well as remarkable stories. My only regret is that she is now done.

Compelling historical fiction to be read in order

No Spoilers!

In the third volume of the Gods of Gotham series, Lindsay Faye continues the story of Timothy Wilde, a "Copper Star" (cop) who becomes the first detective in the recently formed police department of 1840s New York City. Poverty, slavery, racism, the fight for women's rights, the early labor movement exploited children, sweatshops, and political corruption, are all part of the scope of these books, as well as drug addiction, and intolerance toward gays, Catholics, and immigrants. Ever present just under the surface is the decades long lead up to the Civil War.

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Title: Ruins of War

Author: John A. Connell

Narrator: Rob Shapiro

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-05-15

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 71 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

A chilling novel of murder and madness in post-World War II Germany.

Winter 1945. Seven months after the Nazi defeat, Munich is in ruins. Mason Collins - a former Chicago homicide detective, US soldier, and prisoner of war - is now a US Army criminal investigator in the American Zone of Occupation. It's his job to enforce the law in a place where order has been obliterated. And his job just became much more dangerous.

A killer is stalking the devastated city - one who has knowledge of human anatomy, enacts mysterious rituals with his prey, and seems to pick victims at random. Relying on his wits and instincts, Mason must venture places where his own life is put at risk: from interrogation rooms with unrepentant Nazi war criminals to penetrating the US Army's own black market.

What Mason doesn't know is that the killer he's chasing is stalking him, too.

Members Reviews:

Excellent WWII historical fiction....

One of those hard to turn off audies. I'm partial to this type of story but good murder mystery set in post war Munich. Hope this turns into a series, anxiously awaiting next....

wow-like watching a 1940s movie!

This story was everything I expected- action, historical insights, accuracy and a real sense of the privations of war on a defeated population. Like our hero, I came To North America as a 5 year old. I retained language of my birth and had heard my parents speak of terrible conditions after the war, lining up to get soup made from cow entrails, meager rations of food, etc. All this came to life in the novel. I appreciate the author ensuring that Americans and Germans had their good people and also corrupt ones. my Dad often called American soldiers Ammies which rhymes with gum miles. In the story it's considered a pejorative term but it was common usage in my father's era. This was like listening to a living, colorful history lesson without dry lecturing. Hope Mr Connell will continue this exciting series featuring Mason Collins.

This is absolute drivel..

Starting with the appallingly told back-story of the American post-WW2 occupation of Germany, the book descends into a load of psycho-babble about ritualistic murder. Apparently driven by maternal issues, we are asked to endure the murderer's crazed rambling thoughts. Worst listen all year.

Great setting, mediocre plot

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The author picked a really interesting period in history, the immediate aftermath of the collapse of Nazi Germany. While the surrounding environment makes for interesting details, the basic plot is, at best, mediocre. Without giving away the story, I would say that the author went with the most cliched plot line - hunting for a serial killer. Out of all the possibilities of setting a crime story in post-war Germany, he settled for one which could have been told in contemporary LA, Chicago, or St.Louis.

What was most disappointing about John A. Connells story?

The serial killer. What again? Another twisted mind doing carnage, this time with a nod to the horrific atrocities committed by Nazi doctors in the death camps.

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Title: A Bad Woman

Author: James M. Cain

Narrator: Mike Dennis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-28-15

Publisher: The Devault-Graves Agency

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

A Bad Woman (originally titled Sinful Woman) is James M. Cain's little gem of a hard-boiled novel, set in the postwar 1940s of Reno, Nevada.

Film star Sylvia Shoreham is wowing the dusty gambling town and is hell-bent on divorcing her conniving user of a husband, a foreigner with a slick tongue and a heavy accent. But the husband has other ideas, threatening to marry Miss Shoreham's neurotic sister if she divorces him. Hollywood bigwigs want to keep the movie star making the pictures that make them millions. And then there's a gun in the room and a dead husband. Did Sylvia do it? Or was it an elaborate suicide? Everyone has a beef and a motive and an angle, and it's largely up to Sheriff Parker Lucas, the laconic lawman who keeps order in his town, to unspool the tangled web.

Told in James M. Cain's typically taut and terse prose with deadpan dialogue and bruising plot twists, it's a novel by the noir master that is often overlooked in favor of the better known The Postman Rings Twice and Double Indemnity but offers its own tantalizing tale. A Bad Woman is another fine addition to Chalk Line Books' growing roster of great vintage crime fiction.

Members Reviews:

Old Noir. Not bad, but definitely dated.

Not bad, but I felt like the lack of serious character development hurt the story. I found my mind wondering and it didn't seem very organic.

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Title: Suffer Little Children

Subtitle: A Sister Fidelma Mystery

Author: Peter Tremayne

Narrator: Caroline Lennon

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-19-15

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 76 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Sister Fidelma returns in another spellbinding story of murder and intrigue in seventh-century Ireland - when the murder of a high cleric threatens to result in a bloody war between two of Ireland's kingdoms.

In AD 644 the Venerable Dacan, a respected scholar of the Celtic Church, is murdered while on a visit to the Abbey of Ros Ailithir in the Irish Kingdom of Muman. Dacan, unfortunately, was the close confidant of the hotheaded young king of the neighboring kingdom of Fearna, who is using Dacan's murder as an excuse to provoke war.

Sister Fidelma, an advocate of the Brehon courts, is summoned by the dying king of Muman to solve the brutal killing and to prevent the incipient war between the two kingdoms. But at the remote abbey, Fidelma soon discovers there are far more sinister forces than mere political intrigue at work behind the mystery of Dacan's death. She must quickly unravel a most complicated mystery if she is to prevent the coming war - and preserve her own life as well.

With a mix of historical detail and deft characterization, Peter Tremayne once again brings ancient Ireland to full, vivid life.

Members Reviews:

Love this series

Be forewarned! Once you start listening you cannot stop. If you have an annual membership you will go through all your credits - sister Fidelma is inspirational - you will love these books.

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Title: Badger's Moon

Subtitle: A Sister Fidelma Mystery of Ancient Ireland

Author: Peter Tremayne

Narrator: Caroline Lennon

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-18-15

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 39 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In October of 667 A.D., Fidelma of Cashel - sister to the one of kings of Ireland, a religieuse of the Celtic Church, and an advocate of the Brehon courts - is struggling with her most challenging role yet, that of mother to her infant son Alchu. So it is with mixed feelings that she receives the summons from Abbot Brogan. There have been a series of shocking murders that have terrorized the villagers near the Abbey of Finbarr; three young girls have been violently slaughtered - one per month of the night of the full moon, the most recent only days before during the badger's moon, October's full moon. The villagers are angrily demanding answers from the abbey, who are housing three visitors from faraway - strangers who the villagers believe are behind the gruesome murders.

As a respected Brehon, Fidelma, along with her companion Brother Eadulf, is dispatched by her brother the king to restore order to the panicked village and investigate the killings. But time is running out and Fidelma must act quickly, uncovering the complicated truth before the next full moon comes and the lunatic killer strikes again.

Members Reviews:

Dark Times in Ancient Ireland

One of the best in the Sister Fidelma series. Fidelma and Eadulf have hit a bump in their marriage. Fidelma is facing post partum depression since the birth of her son who has been kidnapped, and Eadulf has begun to feel as a second class outsider in the kingdom of Cashel. He is a Sqxon and Fidelma is an Irish princess sister of the king. There are religious differences between him and Fidelma, since one follows the old Irish Church and one accepts the Church of Rome. There are also the usual political problems. Since the series is set in the 8th century, and the author is a Celtic scholar, the setting is authentic and historically interesting. The marriage between Fidelma and Eadulf brings out the differences in their social classes as well as Fidelma's legal status in the society of Cashel. If you enjoy historical mysteries a la Brother Cadfael, but with the fascinating background of the Middle Ages, this one's for you.

Strange happenings come together confusing the puzzle.

This book skips forward about 9 months from the last. Fidelma is feeling confined by her new role and so leaps at the chance to solve a mystery for a chieftain cousin. They find three teenage girls grisly murdered. As usual more is going on. Strange happenings come together confusing the puzzle.

Another good story about Sister Fidelma--howl if you feel like it.

I read this a while ago and cannot remember it very well. It is one of the Sister Fidelma Mystery series. They are all excellent. This one has some information about pre-Christian beliefs, and there is an old Druid who is quite a character. He looks like a suspect but others distorted his teachings for their own evil ends. For once, Fidelma was fooled for a long time, but she always figures it out in the end.

Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma Mysteries

Note to Amazon review editors: Since my reviews of Badger's Moon and Whispers of the Moon would be so similar, and since I have read the entire Sister Fidelma mystery series, I have chosen to provide an overall review of these mysteries. I hope this is satisfactory.