Customer Reviews

Absolution By Murder

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am fascinated by the history of ancient Ireland, so I eagerly dove into this book. Peter Tremayne does an excellent job of showing how the culture and religion of that tiny island greatly influenced the Angles, Saxons and Picts living in present-day England and Scotland. He also shows how the Church, even in its early history, was a political as well as a spiritual force.

I had read some of the short stories featuring Sister Fidelma before picking up this book. Fidelma can be exasperating; she is haughty, touchy and quick to anger. Her starring role in a novel-length adventure allowed Tremayne to show the reader her more appealing qualities: a zest for life, a sly sense of humor, a deep commitment to her friends and a formidable intellect.

As the plot thickened, it seemed Tremayne might lose control of his large cast of characters, but the mounting excitement left me barely able to put the book down. Tremayne wrapped things up nicely in a scene that cleverly resembles an Agatha-Christie drawing-room denouement. The epilogue hints at more adventures to come for Fidelma and Brother Eadulf.

If you haven't met Sister Fidelna, Brehon, yet - then you've been missing out. I love a good murder mystery and I love a good historical novel and I get them both in Fidelma. This is the first novel in the excellent series from the noted Celtic scholar and once you've read the first you will be addicted.

Fidelma herself is a delight and the facinating glimpses into seventh-century Ireland make me eager for more. Don't miss out any longer

I purchased this book via "used" selection. I am an Anglo junkie including reading history of early Brits, i.e. Celts. If you enjoy the history of this period (7th Century, after Arthur -- Anglo-Saxons in charge) and also like a little mystery, you might like ABSOLUTION BY MURDER. The plot hangs together well, although the identity of the perpetrator was obvious to me from the gitgo. The characters, including Fidelma, are not well developed, but perhaps the reader will learn more as she goes along. I did not find Sister Fidelma nearly as interesting as Cadfael, let alone Miss Marple.

I found this story comparable to those by Candace Robb who writes the Owen Archer series, although the APOTHECARY ROSE was much better. If you like Archer, you will probably like Fidelma.

In the first Sister Fidelma mystery, writer Peter Ellis - writing under the pen name of Peter Tremayne - takes us on a fantastic and memorable journey to the time of the rivalries between the ancient Celt and Saxon tribes of England. The mystery is set against the historical background of the debate between the Celtic and Roman Church factions at Whitby back in AD 664. Oswy, the current King of Northumbria, has called this big assembly at Streoneshalh Abbey, a place directed by his cousin, the Abbess Hilda. Important representatives and religieuses from all over Ireland, Britain and Rome are arriving at the Abbey with the purpose of determining once and for all which Church the Kingdom of Northumbria will follow. Sister Fidelma, an advocate of the courts of Ireland, is also in attendance. When she arrives, she meets with her long time friend, Abbess Étain of Kildare. Known for her culture and eloquence, she is to be the opener speaker for the Celtic faction. However, when the debate opens, Abbess Étain's seat is empty. A few moments later, she is found dead in her cubiculum, her throat slashed. It is immediately suspected that the opposition would be the culprit, but is it? And more importantly, how to prove it?

The King of Northumbria, on learning about Fidelma's position as a dálaigh of the Irish Courts, urges her to bring the murderer to justice. Since rumours are already starting to circulate, no time is to be lost. The country is on the brink of Civil War. Fidelma agrees, and in so doing she accepts the condition imposed by the King of having the crime investigated in conjunction with a representative of the Roman faction, a Saxon by the name of Brother Eadulf. Thus forms one of the most famous partnerships in history for the purpose of solving crimes. Fidelma and Eadulf, even though at first they resent each other, grow attached to one another in the end. They feel a great affinity and are a perfect match. As the Manchester Evening News put it, Sister Fidelma is "quite a girl." Eadulf is delighted in his task of a companion who offers support, but is clearly Fidelma who decides on the best course of action. The pair work smoothly together and, in the end, they both realize how much one supported the other.

The historical setting, the descriptions of the Abbey and the customs of the period deserve a mention of their own. Ellis is a scholar of the period, having written numerous volumes about the ancient Celts, the Druids and other early tribes; and one can tell he knows his task as if he had actually lived in the period. I found fascinating the fact that in the ancient Irish Church celibacy was not contemplated, or that women in ancient Ireland had as many possibilities to hold a Public Office rank as men. Also unlike nowadays, a Public position was based on merit, not heredity.

This is a most promising series that I would like to see made into a mini-series of some sort in the future, such as Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael. There's a lot of detail and material to cover, and I cannot wait for the second installment, where, as per the end of this one, Sister Fidelma finds herself fortuitously on her road to Rome... accompanying Brother Eadulf's party.

Sorry, but the opening chapters left a bad taste in mouth and perhaps that tainted my feelings against the entire book.

The introduction to the main character, Fidelma, attempts to paint a picture of a self-assured, female esquire/nun prancing merrily through the Middle Ages without equal. She's all that and well proportioned too! Sadly, she comes off as a swaddled, "sister-superior" who should have been killed in the opening chapter. (It would have been a mercy killing on behalf of the reader).

Furthermore, it appears that Peter Tremayne (the author) must be thrilled with his own trite descriptions of the lady lawyer donned in sack cloth. "Rebellious strands of red hair steaked from beneath her headdress..." I know I read that in chapter one and then again a little later in the book word for word. Yawn. And like Elton John's Your Song, we still don't know if Sister Fidelma's eyes are green or blue as they are so changeable with emotion.

As the book rambled along, I must confess that I had repeated urges to break out in a song from Mary Poppins.
"Our daughter's daughters will adore us
And they'll sing in grateful chorus
Well done sister suffragettes!"

Truly, I expect medieval story to be flavored with phrases and words of the era. However, I read to relax and be carried away, not to labor through an encyclopedia written in a quasi-foreign language extolling the virtues ad nauseum of feminism.

Only read this one, if you have exhausted all other options.

I picked up Absolution by Murder in a used bookstore, thinking it would be a good airplane read. I soon found out that my level of ignorance pertaining to medieval Ireland was only going to make this mystery an irksome chore on an airplane!

Setting it aside to give it the time it deserves was a much better idea! Although initially slow and somewhat bogged down in the finer historical detail, I was soon swept into Sister Fidelma's world where nuns are NOT silent, men of the cloth are not always good, and politics are NEVER petty.

The characters are vivid, but Tremayne never gives away too much so that the "villians" aren't who they appear to be. He tempts the romantic with the introduction of Brother Eadulf but never succumbs to cheap romance or idle folly. The mysterious cultivation of friendship between Fidelma and Eadulf gives the most personal view of the protagonist(s).

The multiple murders keep you guessing to the end. The story picks up speed in the last half and is indeed VERY HARD TO PUT DOWN!

I just finished reading this book, it was rather short, but I found that I enjoyed it quite a bit. The historical aspects were interesting and unique. I've read other reviews that criticized the characterization of Fidelma. The major complaints seemed to be that a) she was not religious enough for a nun and b) he tried to turn her into a proto-feminist too much.

Firstly, a). People pointed out that Fidelma does not pray enough for a nun. She is never seen doing a rosary or Hail-Marys. Which, as a friend of mine pointed out, would seem like an oversight were it not for the fact that Brother Eadulf DOES do these things. If he does, and she does not, then that suggests that the absence is intentional. Tremayne was obviously thinking about the religious rituals, so therefore must have chosen to not have Fidelma perform them. To me this suggests that while she had to be a nun first and then a lawyer, her heart is in the law, being a nun was simply a necessary step. If anything, her lack of fervor adds to her sense of clarity.

And B), the charge that she's a proto-feminist. Or rather, the charge that Tremayne injected his 20th century view onto her ancient self and created a character that simply would not have been. Are we so unwilling to believe that women could have been equals in cultures so long ago that our only explanation is to say that the character is disingenuous? It's entirely possible that we did not invent equality for women. Nor are we the only culture to have Difficult Women. Fidelma went through a lot of schooling and was considered in the same social class as a King. Seems to me that she has something to be proud about, and her unwillingness to give over authority seems about right. Her difficulty is part of what makes her good at her job, and it seems silly to fault her for it.

Fidelma's bristling anger and difficult personality amused me, made me a little proud. And the fact that everyone else felt that she was worth having to deal with that personality simply bolstered my opinion of her.

The book works as a mystery, works as a gender study, and works as a historical exploration. If you have a few nights free, I think it's worth picking up.

This book wasn't too bad for a first effort. The era is an interesting one, and there is some pretty good history here if you're interested in early Christianity and Ancient English history. Sister Fidelma is no Brother Cadfael, and her tame puppy partner (Brother Eadulf) is not Brother Michael (Susanna Gregory's secondary character), but there is something here that bears reading at least another in the series. I found that I had the murderer long before the unveiling, but I still enjoyed reading how they were going to prove it. The motive was also pretty apparent. I will reserve judgement until after I've read one or two more in this series.

The historical setting of this book with the conflict between Celtic and Roman Christianity was intriguing and realistic. You get a genuine sense for the time and place. The downfall, and it is quite a fall, is the wooden prose. I have never seen so many characters grimace. Tremayne uses the word "grimace" frequently, conspicously, and awkwardly. In addition, Sister Fidelma's character is one-dimensional. She isn't a medieval feminist from an enlightened society; she is just a grouch. If she isn't angry, she's irritated, impatient, insulted, or otherwsie bothered. Once in a while she is pleasant, but then she grimaces and your back to square one. The plot is crafted well enough, though the murderer wasn't hard to guess. In sum, this might be worth a single read, but I wouldn't search for the hard cover version.

My first impression of this series was that the books were interesting, entertaining, and the balance between mystery and history done fairly well. The plots are sound (if not the theology, though I cannot say I am well informed about the ancient Celts). The main irritation about the books is the writing style, which detracted (at least for me) from Sister Fidelma's adventures. Tremayne's diction is not great. And in the start of every book of his that I've read he describes Fidelma as having "rebellious strands of red hair" peeking out from under her headpiece. That gets tiresome. Even if it is a trademark, he could phrase it differently. Still, the books are a fun read and I would recommend them. I still have to read "The Subtle Serpent" and "The Spider's Web" and "Suffer Little Children".