entertaining, but lacks the impact of the first in the series

books:


	• The Serpent's Tale Ariana Franklin Putnam Adult, 2008 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Dr. Adelia Invesigates Again

This is the successor to Franklin's successful "Mistress of the Art of Death" and is also set in the England of King Henry II, that seminal (literally and figuratively) ruler, something over a year after the murderous events of the first book. The heroine, Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar, physician/pathologist trained at the great medieval medical school of Salerno, is still kept in England by the order of Henry II. The king was impressed with her work in solving the previous murders and was equally impressed with her brilliant and free-ranging mind. He detains her because he may someday have a use for her qualities, which are rare in 12th century England. Someday has now come and reunites a number of the principal characters from the previous book. Among them are Adelia and her former lover (and father of her baby daughter), Rowley Picot, once a knight and now new-made Bishop of St. Albans.

The story proper begins with Rowley's hasty mid-December journey to require Adelia's help (by order of the King)in Rowley's inquiry into the attempted (as Rowley thinks) murder of the King's beloved mistress, the Fair Rosamund. She was probably fed poisoned mushrooms and Rowley has samples for Adelia to see. Nearing his destination, Rowley and his men discover an unidentified murdered man and Rowley for various reasons thinks that this and the attempt on Rosamund may be related so he seeks Adelia's help on both.

Adelia is reluctant because of the danger to herself, her daughter and her friends. She barely survived the previous "case" and lost a friend as well. Given the King's command, however, she agrees to visit Rosamund in her not too distant tower. When Rowley shows her the mushrooms in question, the presence of several samples of a super deadly species, well mixed with the others, convinces her that Rosamund is dead as she indeed turns out to be. The prime suspect for many people is Henry's estranged wife, the great Eleanor of Aquitaine, mother of his sons and supporter of their various and never ending rebellions. If the suspicion is correct, civil war will occur less than a generation after the devastating one that brought Henry to the throne.

So Adelia goes off to Rosamund's tower and maze where she encounters Rosamund's enormously fat and thoroughly frozen body at the top. The apartment there has been made open to the deep cold by Rosamund's crazy woman servant to preserve her beloved mistress from corruption. Adelia soon discovers that Rosamund has been writing, or rather copying, letters of marvelous invective and insult to Queen Eleanor, whose hatred of Rosamund hardly needed fanning.

Adelia is now fully involved in the problem but can carry out little investigation because of the arrival of Eleanor at the head of a small band of mercenaries that quickly captures Rowley, his men and Adelia. Eleanor has escaped from her latest confinement and is on her way to meet and support her eldest son (the Young King) in rebellion at Oxford. Passing close to Rosamund's tower, she is unable to resist a small detour to confront her rival. When she finds Rosamund dead, she calls for heat to thaw her and prepares to watch her rot. Soon joined by a powerful abbot who supports her, Eleanor learns that the feckless Young King has remained in France for no very good military reason. Now fearing the possible coming of Henry, the entire party decamps for the rebels at Oxford in a journey made life threatening by the arrival of truly vicious cold and violent winter storms. Unable to make Oxford, the party seeks refuge at a nearby nunnery where all become snowbound as the Christmas season looms. A local baron who supports the rebellion is also there with his own mercenaries.

The season of peace and joy becomes a time of increasing fear. Adelia labors to avoid death while trying to solve two murders. The nuns seek to avoid corruption by external violence. The baron abducts a young woman from the convent and forces her to marry him. All the rebels fester in fear of Henry. The plot is driven by these and other clever twists to its resolution.

Franklin is clearly completely at ease with the historical mystery genre and displays much knowledge of medieval England. She is an excellent writer of fluid prose and knows how to plot her work convincingly. Her characterizations of good and bad are memorable and, in the case of the bad especially, pleasingly lurid. She is adept at describing medieval life without overloading the modern reader. Henry II, for example, is primarily and almost exclusively presented as the king of England and his role as ruler of vast European domains (where in real life he spent much more time than in England) is merely alluded to.

As in her prior book, Franklin adds a touch of fantasy. Rosamund's tower and its maze could easily be in "Lord of the Rings." Rosamund's grotesque frozen body and Eleanor's determination to watch it thaw and rot are positively surreal. There are other such touches here and there.

One of the best parts of this and the previous book, however, is Franklin's creative and luminous portraits of major figures such as Eleanor and Henry. Both of them are fascinating figures who transformed their times but we know next to nothing about them. Their inner lives and personalities remain a mystery so far as hard facts are concerned. People did not keep journals or diaries in the 12th century. Personal letters did not exist. Records of the time are usually confined to business and official information and are not nearly so all encompassing as modern records. They allow a limited general outline of medieval life but are not rich in personal detail. Limited by facts and what can be convincingly proved, professionally constrained not to speculate, historians and biographers are necessarily quite conservative in what they can say.

A good novelist is not so limited and much can be done with reasonable speculation based on knowledge of the time. Franklin is very good at this and succeeds in making Henry and Eleanor live as the charismatic figures that they must have been. In Henry's case the portrait here is an "add-on" to the compelling one created at greater length in "Mistress of the Art of Death."

There are some flaws that prevent the highest rating. The book is done mostly in primary colors. The characters are seldom subtle and are often overly vivid. Evil tends to be very evil, black of soul and mind and often wholly or partially demented. Good is equally very good, true and strong. There are not too many mixed characters, the principal exception being Henry, who is intensely pragmatic and willing to improve life for his subjects so long as there is no undue risk to his self-interest.

In addition, Adelia has just a bit too much of the 21st century about her to be a true denizen of the 12th century. The central conceit that she is a graduate of Salerno is tolerable given the comparatively tolerant attitude of the mixed culture of the Kingdom of Sicily of which it was a part. The notion that such a person would be sent to England in response to a king's request for help requires a lot more suspension of disbelief. The story needs a character with a more tolerant background and beliefs to set up (and comment upon) the relatively benighted attitudes of a very provincial England and, by extension, Western Christendom generally (especially with regard to the Church which is mainly seen as bigoted, biased and oppressive). Her attitudes, nonetheless, are (to me anyway) far too much like ours today to be completely convincing as those of a 12th century woman. This is true to a much lesser extent of Rowley as well and there are some hints of it even in Henry. This is a common problem in historical novels and may be intended to give readers a comfortable reference point.

None of this detracts from this book's pleasure as a diverting and pleasureable read, however. It is certainly that. Anyone wanting more might try "Man on a Donkey" by H. F. M. Prescott, set in the time of Henry VIII (not a mystery, however). It is out of print but possibly available in libraries.

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"What family doesn't have it's ups and downs?"

Mayhaps this isn't as "tight" as Mistress of the Art of Death but it is still a very good story, well told.
I will admit to being rather repulsed by at least one of the scenes towards the end of the book and cannot help but wonder if it was necessary. Additionally, I am a bit uncomfortable with the portryal of Eleanor and Beckett but it is a challenging romp of a story. If you are at all interested in Plantagenet England and a gooooood mystery? This is your book.

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entertaining, but lacks the impact of the first in the series

Mistress of the Art of Death deserved a solid 5 stars for the first 80-90% of the book, at which point it ran out of steam, so to speak--the ending faltered. Serpent's Tale starts off in a promising fashion, but almost imperceptibly, the pace begins to slow--it's as if the author felt a need to stretch things out. There are times when you think back about the last ten or twenty pages and ask "Did this really get us anywhere?" There are also some plot elements which, when you reach the end of the book, are perhaps best not recalled carefully--they seemed interesting at the time, but in retrospect didn't make as much sense as one might have hoped.

Still and all, it's good historical fiction, and the author clearly feels comfortable with the era. Some of the characters are well-drawn and interesting, others are not. Mistress of the Art of Death seems more successful in that regard. This was certainly a turbulent period in English history, and the novel captures some of the conflicts. If the timeframe interests you, try Sharon Kay Penman's great series, such as "When Christ and His Saints Slept", an apt phrase for the era, a phrase used in Serpent's Tale (or maybe in Mistress). If medical practice in the time arouses your curiosity, Noah Gordon's fine novel "Physician" meshes nicely with Franklin's work, and sweeps from England to the near east and far beyond. If you haven't yet read any of Franklin's novels, start with Mistress of the Art of Death rather than Serpent's Tale--there's much in Serpent's Tale that will make more sense if you begin with Mistress.

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Mystery

I really liked this book, as your not sure where its going, and its unusual for a woman in those times to be doing this kind of work. Loved it Easy to read

4.5 Stars - Very good historical mystery

First Sentence: The two men's voices carried down the tunnels with a reverberation that made them indistinguishable but, even so, gave the impression of a business meeting.

King Henry II refused to let Adelia Aguilar return to her home at the School of Medicine in Sicily so she is living in the fens with her baby daughter Allie, companion and baby's nursemain Gyltha, the Saracan Mansur, who poses as the doctor allowing Adelia to treat patients without being named a witch, and her new dog Ward.

King Henry's mistress, Rosemund, has been poisoned and his wife, Queen Eleanor is being accused. Adelia, recruited by Rowley, must prove Eleanor's innocence before the country is brought to civil war.

In some ways, this seemed a much bigger story than Franklin's first book (Mistress of the Art of Death) because of the themes.

Franklin presents a very real, unromanticized look at the time and the people in it, including Thomas Beckett and Queen Eleanor. She clearly illustrates how difficult it was to be a woman during the time as well as what life was like during civil war for those not of the ruling class.

Her descriptions are extremely visual and sometimes quite unpleasant but very effective. Although I had read the first book, I appreciated the way Franklin provided a recapitulation of the plot and the character's backgrounds sufficient to bring readers up to current to this book. It's not all politics and description.

The plot is fascinating with good intrigue and suspense with bits of romance and humor. Yes, there are anachronisms, but they are small and I've willing to forgive them when viewed against the strengths of the story. In all, it was a fascinating book and a thoroughly good read.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

Ariana Franklin combines the best of modern forensic thrillers with the drama of historical fiction in the enthralling second novel in the Mistress of the Art of Death series, featuring medieval heroine Adelia Aguilar. Rosamund Clifford, the mistress of King Henry II, has died an agonizing death by poison-and the king's estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, is the prime suspect. Henry suspects that Rosamund's murder is probably the first move in Eleanor's long-simmering plot to overthrow him. If Eleanor is guilty, the result could be civil war. The king must once again summon Adelia Aguilar, mistress of the art of death, to uncover the truth. Adelia is not happy to be called out of retirement. She has been living contentedly in the countryside, caring for her infant daughter, Allie. But Henry's summons cannot be ignored, and Adelia must again join forces with the king's trusted fixer, Rowley Picot, the Bishop of St. Albans, who is also her baby's father. Adelia and Rowley travel to the murdered courtesan's home, in a tower within a walled labyrinth-a strange and sinister place from the outside, but far more so on the inside, where a bizarre and gruesome discovery awaits them. But Adelia's investigation is cut short by the appearance of Rosamund's rival: Queen Eleanor. Adelia, Rowley, and the other members of her small party are taken captive by Eleanor's henchmen and held in the nunnery of Godstow, where Eleanor is holed up for the winter with her band of mercenaries, awaiting the right moment to launch their rebellion. Isolated and trapped inside the nunnery by the snow and cold, Adelia and Rowley watch as dead bodies begin piling up. Adelia knows that there may be more than one killer at work, and she must unveil their true identities before England is once again plunged into civil war . . .

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