Book Review: Fortune Like the Moon

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Fortune Like the Moon     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Alys Clare
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Historical
Series: Hawkenlye
St. Martin's, May 2000, $22.95, 256 pp.

King Henry I is dead and his wife Elinore of Acquitane is freed from jail. Everyone in England awaits the arrival of the new King Richard from overseas. As a gesture of good will and to demonstrate to the common person that he is the ruler of all of England, Richard grants clemency to the prisoners in the country's jails. Initially, the people applaud his bold move until someone kills a novice at Hawkenylye Abbey. The people believe one of the newly freed individuals is accused of committing the crime.

An irate Richard dispatches one of his knights, Josse D'Aquin, to investigate the murder that could topple his reign. Josse immediately concludes that the assailant arranged the crime scene so witnesses could claim the novice was robbed and raped when in fact, the victim was neither. Josse joins forces with Abbess Helewise in an attempt to uncover the identity of the culprit before the Holy Spirit of the Abbey is destroyed forever.

Readers will relish the arrival of a new crime-fighting duo on the scene especially Josse, an intellectual warrior who uses his brains to solve a crime. Though his belief that women are his equal seems a bit of an anachronism, Josse and the Abbess work so smoothly together, readers will give credence to his faith in the abilities of females. The Abbess is an enlightened thinker who is not afraid to dirty her hands by becoming involved in the secular affairs traditionally handled by males. These characters, a well designed who-done-it, and the pageantry of Medieval England turns Alys Clare's FORTUNE LIKE THE MOON into a fabulous historical mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner