Advantages: Good story line with inetersting characters Disadvantages: Can be a bit grisley
Mistress of the Art of Death is a historical thriller surrounding the grisly murders of several children in Cambridge. King Henry II is not happy as along with the awfulness of the murders, the Jewish community on whom he relies for a lot of his income have been blamed for the murders and have had to hide out in his castle in fear of their lives from the angry villagers.
Henry is driven to ask his friend and ally the King of Sicily for assistance ... ...Jewish investigator, Mansur an Arabic servant and Adelia Aguilar, a female doctor who specializes in what is basically forensics but which they call at the time the Art of Death.
Although In Salerno in Sicily, female doctors are quite common, this is not the case in twelfth century England, and therefore Mansur has to travel as the doctor with Adelia being his 'wisewoman' assistant. This proves difficult for Adelia at times when she sees someone ...
Merced 06.10.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mistress of the Art of Death - Ariana Franklin
Advantages: Good second half, some interesting details Disadvantages: Clunky plot, a bit meandering
...character is Adelia - "The Mistress of the Art of Death" - i.e a forensic pathologist. Her struggle to conceal her profession is quite prominent in the plot as female doctors were unusual in the twelfth century. She is helping Simon of Naples discover the killer through the clues left on the bodies of the victims. I found this quite interesting although I'm not sure how realistic it would be in the twelfth century. The plot does wander a bit as it ... ...The character of Rowley (the King's so-called tax inspector) is ok but the romance seems to have been thrown in as a bit of an afterthought and didn't add anything to the story for me. Mansur and Gyltha offered some light relief as the servants as did Gyltha's grandson Ulf. Simon of Naples was not as prominent as I expected but was a fairly good character. I felt that some of the characterisation suffered through the absolute focus on Adelia, who ...
mogdred1 27.01.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mistress of the Art of Death - Ariana Franklin
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