Partage des connaissances

Date de naissance: 1944-01-01
Sexe: female
Nationalité: USA
Lieu de naissance: USA
Lieux de résidence: British Columbia, Canada
Northern California, USA
Études: San Francisco State University (BA, World Literature)
Professions: civil servant
Organisations: California Writers Club
Sisters in Crime
Mystery Writers of America
Courte biographie: Priscilla grew up in British Columbia and until 2000, she worked for the Federal government in a variety of positions, all of which provided a wonderful education in the complexity of human experience and motivation. Priscilla has a degree in world literature from San Francisco State University, where she discovered the beauty of medieval literature. She is a theater fan as well as reader of history, mysteries, and fiction of lesser violence. She lives in Northern California and belongs to the California Writers Club and Sisters in Crime.

Membres

Critiques

Wine of Violence (Medieval Mystery, #1) par Priscilla Royal

I hovered between 2.5 and 3 stars for this historical fiction mystery. I liked the setting and the characters were believable for the most part. I only skimmed the foreword but the author has clearly taken the time to research the Fontevraud order and the time period of the late 13th century England. But some parts of it still struck me as a bit off (Eleanor, the daughter of a Norman noble, being taught to read and write in English for example).

I also found the plot, while probable, slightly distasteful. (There was a lot about sodomy in the book & one of the main characters is a gay man. That is fine, probably accurate, and even an interesting perspective on the times. But the motive of the murders turned out to be the repeated rape of a boy in the village. Good motive but yuck! I will try another from the series before coming to a final judgement.… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

leslie.98 | 11 autres critiques | Jun 27, 2023 |

Wine of Violence (Medieval Mysteries Book 1) par Priscilla Royal

Set in 13th century English priory of nuns and monks. Internal polititcs, murder, theft, sexual and racial discrimination. good tight story and having watched Game of Thrones was a little familiar with the issues of Norman /Saxon relations of the time as well as the roles of women and religious.

Signalé

ElizabethCromb | 11 autres critiques | Sep 16, 2022 |

Prayers of the Dead: A Medieval Mystery (Priscilla… par Priscilla Royal

Prayers of the Dead is a historical mystery set in England's Tyndal Priory during the 1280s. The story opens with a murder. Eda, Countess of Ness is found stabbed to death in the chapel by her husband's knife. Of course, he becomes the main suspect. Prioress Eleanor begins to investigate the matter as the crowner is out of town. Soon thereafter a priest is found murdered in the same chapel. Eda had many enemies because she gossiped with another priest about sins that people in the area committed and they would be outed the next Sunday during the sermon. Eleanor interviews everyone in the priory and tries to find a connection between the two deaths. When Crowner Ralf returns, he insists that the crimes fall under the king's law and that Prioress Eleanor is biased because the Earl of Ness is her cousin. Eleanor insists that she has jurisdiction over the crime. She also believes that her cousin will talk more freely to her than to the crowner. After speaking with him, she realizes that he is lying to her. While she has given her word to the Crowner that she would not be blinded by family ties, she thinks that she may have to turn her cousin in. Prayers of the Dead is the 17th novel in a series that features Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas of the Order of Fontevraud.

Tyndal Priory was part of the real Order of Fontevraud. This particular Order had both men and women and both were ruled by a woman. I was not aware that there were Orders such as this one. The story started out well. The pace was fast and the introduction of the characters was fascinating. They all had interesting foibles and one of the priests was intersex. No one knew this until he ended up dead and an examination of his body showed that he had both female and male genitals. However, the middle of the book was slow. Nothing much happened other than Eleanor interviewed the other characters. No real information about the crime was revealed here so it was a little boring. Toward the end, the novel picked up as Eleanor discovers more and more truths about those who lived in the Priory. The ending was a surprise.

What I found unbelievable is that two of the characters were aware that there were people who were intersex, or hermaphrodite as they were called in those days, and that it was OK for them to marry as long as the spouse knew about the condition. This doesn't sound 13th century to me. The Author's Note at the end of the book gives her views on gender and the belief that there are three genders: male, female and blended. She continues with a diatribe about how society has treated these people and developed rules governing them. She stated that when she began writing the novel, she wanted to have an intersex character. Four out of the ten page Author's Note is devoted to gender roles. I was turned off by all of this. Reading is an escape for me and I do not like being preached to, especially with historical fiction.

I would have rated the novel 3 out of 5 stars but the preaching requires a rating of 2 out of 5.… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

Violette62 | Mar 5, 2022 |

Wild Justice (Medieval Mysteries Book 14) par Priscilla Royal

1282 and Prioress Eleanor with her retinue travel to Mychen Buckland to deliver a letter and rents to the Prioress Amicia. Only to find that Amicia has been found guilty of murder, never having acknowledged her innocence or guilt. After reading her letter Amicia asks that Eleanor find proof that she is actually innocent of the crime.
Not a very interesting mystery, and the characters really didn't come to life for me. A quite slow paced though well-written story.
A NetGalley Book

Signalé

Vesper1931 | Jul 29, 2021 |

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