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A review by leavingsealevel
Shroud for the Archbishop by Peter Tremayne
2.0
Earlier this fall, I discovered Cora Harrison's Burren Mysteries (about a woman judge in Medieval Ireland who solves mysteries and falls in love with the king, etc). I finished these and encouraged Goodreads-style reader's advisory from the public librarian types. The problem* with reader's advisory is that you often have to trust the reviews and "advise" readers toward books you've never read. I would imagine this generally works out fine.
This time it did NOT work out fine**. The Sister Fidelma mysteries seem like a good choice, since they are also about a nun in ancient/medieval Ireland who solves mysteries and falls in love with one of her fellow monks (apparently that was cool back then). They seem like such a good choice that I gave the first book [b:Absolution by Murder|706476|Absolution by Murder (Sister Fidelma, #1)|Peter Tremayne|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177464496s/706476.jpg|1717777] the benefit of the doubt despite (HERE ARE THE SPOLIERS) the eeeeevil lustful Lesbian killer. I mean, I suppose it was fairly well done, and how many books are there about women who solve mysteries in pre-colonial Ireland?!
Then I came to book two, slightly skeptical but ready for more fun. This time (MORE SPOILERS), I encountered the eeeeevil followers of "Mahomet." I get that Peter Tremayne is choosing groups who would have realistically been viewed as society's villains during the time he was writing about. However, there's gotta be a way to be true to history without making your readers cringe. At first, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and just figured the books a bit "outdated"...but seriously, these were written in the 1990s, not the 1890s.
I might, believe it or not, give this series one more try. On an airplane or something. With a later book. However: in addition to the above, these don't actually seem to take place in Ireland (Sister Fidelma being your ancient equivalent of a modern 20-something backpacker?), *and* the mystery kind of gets explained all of a sudden by Fidelma at the end. No additional points for either of those.
*Here I go dispensing opinions about RA despite never once having advised readers on leisure reading in my professional life. I advise panicky undergrads, mostly.
**Carrie, can I just be clear I am NOT giving you a hard time for the rec? I think this is somewhat hilarious.
This time it did NOT work out fine**. The Sister Fidelma mysteries seem like a good choice, since they are also about a nun in ancient/medieval Ireland who solves mysteries and falls in love with one of her fellow monks (apparently that was cool back then). They seem like such a good choice that I gave the first book [b:Absolution by Murder|706476|Absolution by Murder (Sister Fidelma, #1)|Peter Tremayne|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177464496s/706476.jpg|1717777] the benefit of the doubt despite (HERE ARE THE SPOLIERS) the eeeeevil lustful Lesbian killer. I mean, I suppose it was fairly well done, and how many books are there about women who solve mysteries in pre-colonial Ireland?!
Then I came to book two, slightly skeptical but ready for more fun. This time (MORE SPOILERS), I encountered the eeeeevil followers of "Mahomet." I get that Peter Tremayne is choosing groups who would have realistically been viewed as society's villains during the time he was writing about. However, there's gotta be a way to be true to history without making your readers cringe. At first, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and just figured the books a bit "outdated"...but seriously, these were written in the 1990s, not the 1890s.
I might, believe it or not, give this series one more try. On an airplane or something. With a later book. However: in addition to the above, these don't actually seem to take place in Ireland (Sister Fidelma being your ancient equivalent of a modern 20-something backpacker?), *and* the mystery kind of gets explained all of a sudden by Fidelma at the end. No additional points for either of those.
*Here I go dispensing opinions about RA despite never once having advised readers on leisure reading in my professional life. I advise panicky undergrads, mostly.
**Carrie, can I just be clear I am NOT giving you a hard time for the rec? I think this is somewhat hilarious.