Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin 384 pp.
Someone is torturing and murdering children in Cambridge, England during the reign of Henry II. The Jews of the city have been blamed and are in protective custody in the castle after vigilante townsfolk murder the one they suspected. Dr. Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar of Salerno is a rarity in that she is a doctor trained at the University of Salerno and because she is a specialist in "The Art of Death" (pathology). King Henry contacts his friend, the King of Sicily, for assistance and Adelia is sent to England with a Jewish detective named Simon and a Saracen eunuch bodyguard to attempt to solve the crimes. There are lots of possible suspects and twists & turns in this whodunit. This is the first book in a mystery series I just found out about and I plan to read more of them.
How graphic is the torture/murder, and do you spend much time hearing the murderer's thoughts? My aunt is intrigued but doesn't have much of a stomach for graphic violence.
ReplyDeleteThe descriptions of what was done to the kids are pretty graphic. It's along the lines of Bones or CSI but not quite as gory as CSI. There is no "getting in the murderer's head" in this one.
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