I have finally finished all four novels in this series, and I must say that each one is fantastic, and I wish there were more novels to follow. (There may be, but I don't know...) Ariana Franklin takes a period in history and delves into the superstitions, culture clashes, theories, prejudices, and assumptions that come with it. While going through all of this, Franklin presents a character that I couldn't help but care about, and I continued to like her in each new novel, each new adventure in her life. The Mistress of the Art of Death novels are an amazing mix of a smattering of historical events with wonderfully imaginative fiction, lovable characters, clever villains, and landscapes that take your breath away.
Mistress of the Art of Death
In this first novel, Franklin introduces Adelia, a doctor from a celebrated medical school in Salerno, who is forced to travel to England to solve a mystery for King Henry II. Adelia is a unique woman for her time. It's the 12th century, where men rule a woman from the day she is born, yet she is an independent person who has had the privilege to grow up in the tolerant city of Salerno. Nowhere else in Europe are women allowed to practice medicine, and not only is Adelia an intelligent woman, but she is the best student in the art of death (today she would be a forensic scientist with the skills of a surgeon) that Salerno has ever produced.
What got me hooked to this novel from the get-go was Adelia's way of thinking. She sees everything from an objective point of view because it's necessary if she is to do her job properly. She assumes everyone is a suspect until she can scientifically rule them out, and her impartiality is something I haven't really seen in a book before. Adelia is also not your typical 12th century female; she is graceless, unselfconscious, and brutally honest. In England, Adelia discovers the advantage of silence, prudence, and blending in, since she needs all three to solve the horrible crimes that have been plaguing Cambridge and King Henry.
This novel is both engrossing as well as a stepping stone to the other three novels in the series. Here, Adelia must find the person behind the mutilation and murder of four Cambridgeshire children before another one is harmed, but she must do this while giving the impression that her eunuch bodyguard, Mansur, is actually the doctor. During her time in this city, she makes friends who believe in her and her abilities, a lover who would defy the Church for her, a horrifically smelly dog, and the appreciation of a king who is using her for his own means without regard to her life or safety, all while discovering the monster than can live inside any human being.
The Serpent's Tale
Adelia is back, but this time, the trouble is closer to King Henry's heart. His favorite mistress, Rosamund Clifford has been murdered by poison, and he sends Adelia to discover who was behind it. Most of England believes that Henry's estranged wife Eleanor was behind it all, but if Adelia can, she must prove Eleanor innocent or risk another civil war that will tear the country apart. The difference is that this time, Adelia has a daughter. Her love affair since the end of the previous novel has given her the love of her infant daughter, Almeison (Allie for short).
Things get more complicated in this novel because in addition to Adelia's own safety, she must now look to the safety of her baby, and more often than not, she wants to put Allie's comfort, safety, and health above her own, and most definitely above her duty to King Henry, who is forcibly preventing her from returning home to Salerno. It's interesting to see Adelia's motivations change. She first came to England with a scientific interest and the hope to stop the slaying of innocent children, and now has started to like the country for its own merits, yet she still cannot forgive Henry for keeping her there against her wishes. There is more of an emotional struggle for Adelia here as well. She refused to marry Allie's father, thinking that marriage would mean she would have to become someone else; it would mean that she would have to give up her profession, which was something she couldn't bear to part with. During this whole novel, I can see Adelia's battle between her love for the man, and her hatred towards him for putting too obstacles between them.
The mystery in this one is also a little more complex. There are two murders, seemingly unconnected, that need to be solved, and Adelia has to deal with mercenaries who have the abbey where she is staying under a lockdown, an insane housekeeper who wishes to kill anyone associated with Rosamund's death, and a girl who is about to be married against her will, among other things. Luckily she has all of her close friends on the journey with her, so she does not have to do all of this alone. Still, she has to trust that Henry will save the day, and listen to her report about what actually went on.
Grave Goods
This is probably my favorite of the novels because it covers more than just history. Franklin incorporates a deeply rooted legend into this novel of mystery, murder, abduction, and a deplorable English winter. In this novel, Adelia is sent to Glastonbury to see whether a newly unearthed coffin contains the remains of King Arthur and Guinevere. King Henry is hopeful that if he can convince the Welsh rebels that Arthur is truly dead, they would be more willing to negotiate with him and stop all of the fighting. Once again, Adelia, Mansur, Allie, and their friend Gyltha are on the case, while accompanying Emma, Lady Wolvercote (who we met in the previous novel) to one of her estates.
I think that this novel is too good to summarize, and anything I say won't really do it justice. I'd rather that you read it to see what kind of marvels Franklin can unravel for you while trying to keep Adelia and her friends alive.
A Murderous Procession
Here we have another assignment for Adelia that will take her home to Salerno, though she won't be allowed to stay. Henry has sent for Adelia so that she can, under the guise of being Mansur's assistant again, accompany Henry's daughter, Princess Joanna, on her trip to Palermo, where she will be married to William, King of Sicily. He doesn't trust Joanna's private physician, Dr. Arnulf, to keep to healthy, and wants Adelia to be there to use scientific medicine, and not just the home remedy crap that Arnulf would prescribe. The worst part for Adelia is that Henry is holding her daughter hostage to ensure her return to England. Allie has been put in the care of the "imprisoned" Queen Eleanor, where she'll be taken care of until Adelia returns from a trip that may last a year or more.
What Adelia doesn't realize is that one of the members of the gigantic party going with Joanna is a man who wants her dead more than he wants anything else in the world. Adelia accidentally killed his life mate, and this man wants revenge, which will only be satisfied with Adelia's own death. "Accidental deaths" follow Adelia at every turn, where superstitious people, including some of the high clergy, start accusing her of being a witch, that if they prove it, could mean she would be burned at the stake. Oddly enough, that is a fate that she narrowly escapes, but for an entirely different reason. First, her horse dies, and people blame her for wishing its death after the horse made if difficult for her to dismount the day before. Then, a high ranking member of the envoy dies, and Adelia is blamed because someone said she cursed him for assaulting her maid. Then, the head laundress is found drowned a laundry vat, and, again, Adelia is accused of contriving her death because they'd had a quarrel earlier. Circumstances keep cropping up where the party's logical choice to blame things on is Adelia: she is a foreigner, a woman, and a loose woman as far as they're concerned, and keeping company with a Saracen doctor doesn't help her any either. She must trust what friends she can, as well as the Princess, to make it through the journey, and live long enough to get back to Allie. Exciting or what?
I gave these novels 10/10 stars because that are astonishingly well-crafted, and the characters are so unique and believable, that I wish I could know them for myself. Ariana Franklin is an excellent author, and I can only hope that she finds it meet to continue writing novels of her little Mistress of the Art of Death.
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