Hunters Tale (Paperback)

Margaret Frazer is meticulous in her research and the detail that she weaves into her stories keeps you intrigued until the last page is turned. In this tale she brings her scholarship to bear on the hounds used for hunting in medieval England. The information about Irish wolfhounds is fascinating. The descriptions of the actual hunts will make you shudder.

This tale sees Dame Frevisse traveling once again outside the convent walls. She accompanies Lady Anneys and her daughter to Woodrim manor where the brutual father, Sir Ralph, and now the dutiful son, Tom, have died. Sir Ralph is brutally murdered by "party unknown" but no one mourns his death or seeks his killer. The grieving is caused entirely by the death of their beloved son and brother, Tom.

I especially liked Ms Frazer's depiction of Dame Frevisse's anguish over her need to know what happened. Dame Frevisse is a strong, intelligent but humanly flawed character. Over the span of this series one grows very fond of and comfortable with this amazing person who happens to be a medieval nun. The Hunter's Tale adds to the richness of the portrait we see of Dame Frevisse.

This particular novel makes no effort to be suspenseful. You will know early on who "done" it. What makes this novel shine is the depth and richness of the words used to describe the ordinary life of minor gentry in medieval England. Each character is drawn by Ms Frazer with infinite care and affection.

This is a splendid read.

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Sir Ralph Woderove was not a well liked man at all: deeply obsessed with hunting, his casual indifference and petty cruelty towards his family and retainers earned him no accolades. So that when he's found murdered one day (by a presumed poacher), no one is too surprised that his family shows almost no concern that there is little likelihood of his murderer ever being apprehended. Unfortunately even though Sir Ralph is no more, he still manages to maintain a stranglehold on his family because of the terms of his will. But it is when Sir Ralph's unfortunate widow, the Lady Anneys, finds herself being harassed by the unwanted attentions of a suitor that Dame Frevisse finds herself becoming deeply embroiled in the affairs of the Woderoves. And what she observes leads her to believe that Sir Ralph's murderer is not some unknown assailant but someone close at hand -- possibly even a family member. Unable to let things go, Dame Frevisse decides to do some investigating of her own, and finds herself becoming obsessed in her need to unmask a murderer...

Unlike previous Dame Frevisse mystery novels, this particular installment does not feature a cunning plot full of surprising twists and turns and intrigue. However, because Margaret Frazer is one of the few mystery novelists who treats the historical element as something more than mere wall papering, "The Hunter's Tale" turned out to be quite the engrossing read. The authour has a real talent for making 15th century England interesting and accessible (all those vivid imagery and details on what life in a nunnery and at the manor would have been like), and for portraying characters so that they were realistic and believable. I enjoyed Ms Frazer's thoughtful portrayal of Dame Frevisse -- especially the manner in which she showed us how the need to know was affecting Dame Frevisse's sense of balance and serenity -- and her portrayal of the young nun, Sister Johanne (and the interchanges between the two), who accompanies her to the Woderove manor. Also nicely done was the manner in which she imbued the Woderoves with a sense of bleakness, fear and despair at what has befallen them. So that all in all, even if "The Hunter's Tale" was not the kind of 'edge-of-your-seat' mystery novel that I had come to expect from Margaret Frazer, it still was an excellent 5 star read.

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