--Interesting story featuring Eleanor of Aquitaine aka Queen of England

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	• Cruel as the Grave (Ballantine Reader's Circle) Sharon Kay Penman Ballantine Books, 1999 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 33 reviews view larger image
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--Interesting story featuring Eleanor of Aquitaine aka Queen of England

CRUEL AS THE GRAVE is the second book about Justin de Quincy who is known as the queen's man. Justin works for Queen Eleanor the widow of Henry the II. She employs him as a messenger, spy and man that she can trust to carry out her orders.

The story takes place in the year 1193. During this time frame King Richard's life was in danger and his brother Prince John was hoping that Richard would be killed and not return to rule England. Queen Eleanor, their mother, was caught in the middle of their battle and although she wanted to stop Prince John, she did not want him hurt. Justin walks a fine line in his investigations because no one every wants to cross Prince John since there is a good chance that he will one day be King of England.

There is a dual mystery in this story where Justin also becomes involved in the murder investigation of a young woman.

The characters in this medieval mystery are a combination of historic figures and fictional characters. At the end of the book, in the author's note, Sharon Kay Penman offers some additional information about some of the characters and tells what is factual and what is not in her story. This author does a lot of research for her books, and tries to be as true to history as possible.

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Great historical fiction

In Cruel as the Grave, Justin Quincey is back in his second adventure as "the Queen's man." When we left The Queen's Man, the queen's eldest son Richard had been found, and the murder of a merchant had been solved. The mystery this time lies in the murder of a 15-year-old Welsh girl, killed in a graveyard. The two main suspects are a pair of brothers, both of whom knew the girl intimately and neither of whom is saying anything. While the murder isn't all that original, to be sure, and its frustrating to read a murder mystery in which DNA and fingerprinting hadn't been discovered yet, its still intriguing to see how investigators of the period used what they had to solve a case. Justin comes to most of his conclusions by deductive reasoning, but still manages to catch the girl's killer.

While the royal aspect doesn't figure as much into the mystery at hand, Justin once again has to sift through the fascinating intrigues of court life and make sense of the complicated relationship between Eleanor and her younger son, John. Justin is there at the seige of Warwick Castle, and has the chance to observe John's character with close scrutiny.

While Penman's medieval mysteries aren't as fine as her epic historical novels, she gives us an excellent, approachable look into one of the most fascinating periods of English history.

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First Penman book I read

I normally don't read mystery books and to top it off this was my first Penman book I read. I loved it. Yes, I figured it out before the ending, but the story was compelling and I enjoyed it anyway. I loved the setting and loved the characters she has created as well as the historical ones. Penman did an awesome joby in my opinion. Since then I have read another one of her mysteries and I am looking forward to reading all of her books with Justin in them. I love how he is from humble orgins and not in the highborn culture yet he can interact with them and still keep his honor. I also love how he is honorable and just.

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Justin de Quincy Undergoes the Tribulations of Success

Sharon Kay Penman's "Cruel as the Grave" continues her foray into medieval murder mysteries. In "The Queen's Man," her first such novel, Penman introduced Justin de Quincy to the world. The bastard son of a bishop, Justin is a man of talent but no means until fate brought him into the confidence of England's Queen Eleanor. Through courage, wit, and loyalty, Justin rose mightily in the eyes of both the royal court and with several of his "more common" friends . . . and made a few enemies in the bargain.

In "Cruel as the Grave," set in the early spring of 1193, immediately after "The Queen's Man" ends, Justin reaps the fruit of his success. Now an honored and trusted member of the Queen's inner circle, Justin must undertake several risky ventures to help Eleanor ransom her beloved kidnapped son, Richard Lionheart, king of England -- held in an Austrian prison cell. He must also help Eleanor in a high-stakes chess match --with the throne of England as the prize -- with her cunning younger son, John (dubbed by many, "the Prince of Darkness," and deservedly so). Since John is one of the enemies Justin made in "The Queen's Man," Justin's life is in considerable peril.

Justin must also cope with his new-found fame as a crime solver par excellence with his less-royal but no less demanding friends. A beautiful young woman is found murdered in a local churchyard, and the sons of a local merchant are implicated. Justin is forced to look into the murder, and soon learns that suspects and motives abound in this grisly affair.

Penman balances these two plot lines expertly, and the action sweeps from the streets of London to the courtroom of the palace to the siege of Windsor Castle. Penman writes with her trademark clarity, equally at home with a battle scene as with friends bantering over drinks in the alehouse. (Although fans of carnage would be better suited reading Bernard Cornwell's various works - Penman does not linger long over the violence.)

True to her last murder mystery, Penman injects "Cruel as the Grave" with more humor than her historical epics, and the novel is much shorter, as well (230-odd pages). While these novels are (almost) entirely fictional, they are fantastic opportunities to delve deeper into Penman's captivating treatment of Queen Eleanor's England. Check it out!

Note -- while some "sequels" can be read without reading earlier novels in the series, "Cruel as the Grave" will be much more enjoyable for those who have already read "The Queen's Man." (I would also recommend reading "While Christ and His Saints Slept" and "Time and Chance" first, so the reader can learn the back-story of Queen Eleanor before reading these murder mysteries, which are set in the twilight of her reign -- but reading those two novels is not as essential as reading "The Queen's Man," because Justin de Quincy does not play a role in the other works.)

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Pleasant reading, but no surprises or depth

Justin de Quincy, a young man in the service of Eleanor of Aquitaine, is helping his queen discover what her son John is planning as he tries to usurp the throne while his brother Richard Lionheart is in a German prison. At the same time he is asked by a friend to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. The suspects are two teenage boys, one who was sleeping with her and the other who was truly in love with her. There is a quote at the beginning about the emotion of jealousy being cruel as the grave and their is a great amount of it at the center of both story lines. Cruel as the Grave is a quick and enjoyable read. The techniques used to investigate in the 12th century were interesting as we are now so used to fingerprints and DNA evidence. Some of the details about life in the middle ages were also fascinating. The central mystery however was facile and no surprise in the end. The characters also had little depth. It's a pleasant book but not challenging in any way.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

April 1193. England's King Richard Lionheart languishes in a German prison, and treason scents the air. Richard's younger brother, John, seizes Windsor Castle, and Dowager Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine summons her trusted personal "queen's man," Justin de Quincy, to do the impossible--mediate a truce with her rebel son.

Amid such fateful events, the murder of a Welsh peddler's daughter seems small. But the cruel demise of the beautiful Melangell so troubles Justin that not even a threatened French invasion can keep him from investigating her death. Yet can he bring Melangell's craven killer to justice?

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