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"Fantastic medieval mystery"
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted December 30, 2004

Though he spends a lot of time at the royal court, Edward and Cristiana Helyngton have been have been happily married for years raising two preadolescent daughters Jane and Mary. However, in 1449 when Edward returns to Hertfordshire from his latest stint with the royals, he is very Read more...

"Excellent continuation of the Dame Frevisse medieval mystery series."
Reviewed by Margaret Ohmes
Posted January 10, 2005

With the untimely death of her beloved husband, Edward, Cristiana Helyngton is now a widow. She and her two young daughters, 8-year-old Jane and 12-year-old Mary, are grateful for the loving help and guidance of Cristiana's brother, Gerverys. But Gerverys is no match for Edward's cousin, Laurence Helyngton, who's determined Read more...

Summary

Recently widowed and still grieving, Cristiana Helyngton finds her life wrenched apart by her late husband's greedy and ambitious relatives, who are determined to have control of her lands and her daughters. Kidnapped, defamed, and imprisoned in a nunnery, she must find a way to save herself before she can save her children. For Dame Frevisse of St. Frideswide's nunnery, Cristiana is at first simply a duty among others, but questions rise and troubles deepen--and then turn deadly. Cristiana, to secure her freedom and save her daughters, must use a secret entrusted to her by her husband as he was dying-but it is a secret that could bring down those lords nearest the king and destroy, rather than save, those most dear to her. Frevisse, drawn into trouble far deeper than she initially imagined, must decide where her deepest loyalties lie: to the truth-or to England's peace. And whatever she chooses, in the end her help may be of little use against the ruthless men threatened by the secret on which all of Cristiana's hopes depend.