A review by emjay24
Cruel as the Grave by Sharon Kay Penman

3.0

This is the second book in the Justin de Quincy series. I first read #3, then couldn't find #1, and now read #2. Oddly enough, #3 was easier to read not knowing what'd been going on than this one was, it seemed to refer to book one a lot, and was more of a building sort of book than #3 was. Still, I enjoyed it. This series is set back in midieval times, when King Richard is currently a prisoner and John is plotting to take the throne. Justin, the unrecognized son of a prominent church man, has become the "queen's man," taken into Eleanor (Richard and John's mom, an amazing 70 something years old!)'s confidance and service, even though he's only in his 20s and only found out about his father. As i mentioned, the back story is more the focus of this volume, but there is a small mystery there that doesn't have attention fully given to it until the last third of this short book. Two people stopped me to ask about this book, as Penman is a famous historical novelist, but i quite like her historical mysteries. Sometimes it's repetitive to read a story that you already know the outcome of. Here, you get the historical backdrop, and lots of attention to detail about little historical and anthropological facts, while still wondering what will happen next. Despite the mystery being squished, the book was overall good and i look forward to moving on to #4. Wonderful, engaging writer!