Cruel as the Grave - Softcover

Penman, Sharon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140270760 ISBN 13: 9780140270761

Publisher: Penguin, 1999

Synopsis

The second medieval mystery from Sharon Penman, following Justin de Quincy, knight in the service of Queen Eleanor.

His duty is clear: to restrain his brother Prince John in his relentless quest for the throne, and his dangerous pacts with the French king. What does the murder of an innocent pedlar's daughter in a churchyard in Cripplegate have to do with him? But little by little, Justin is ensnared in the case until he comes to feel the force of the dead girl, and thirsts to find her killer. But can he defend the Queen and solve the murder?

About this title

Review:

Readers of The Queen's Man, Sharon Kay Penman's first book about young Justin de Quincy, will feel right at home as Justin--the bastard son of a bishop-- continues to help England's aged Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine find out if her son, Richard the Lionheart, is still alive in a German prison while trying to keep another son, John, from usurping the throne. Newcomers might take a few more pages, but Penman's skill at making the daily life of 1193 England so immediately accessible should soon have them equally comfortable. Why would a messenger grab his mantle but not his boots before jumping out of a Winchester bawdy house window on a mild April night? Because that's where a treasonous message is hidden. What would Justin and his friend Luke have for supper at a Thameside cookshop? "Pork-filled pie and ginger wafers, washed down with cider." Why was "breakfast the day's dubious meal, not quite respectable"? Because, Penman tells us, "people were supposed to be able to satisfy themselves with a hearty dinner and a lighter supper." Details like these bond us quickly with distant ancestors--and make us wonder what particulars of our own lives will be fodder for future writers of historical fictions. --Dick Adler

Review:

Penman writes about the medieval world and its people with vigor, compassion, and clarity.
"San Francisco Chronicle
" Penman s lively, articulate prose brings to life history as it could have happened high praise for a historical mystery.
"Houston Chronicle"
Sharon Kay Penman tells her stories with passion and a strong sense of time and place.
MARGARET FRAZER
Author of the Sister Frevisse Novels
Once you enter Penman s world, you re hooked.
"Seattle Post-Intelligencer""

"Penman writes about the medieval world and its people with vigor, compassion, and clarity."
-San Francisco Chronicle

"Penman's lively, articulate prose brings to life history as it could have happened-high praise for a historical mystery."
-Houston Chronicle

"Sharon Kay Penman tells her stories with passion and a strong sense of time and place."
-MARGARET FRAZER
Author of the Sister Frevisse Novels

"Once you enter Penman's world, you're hooked."
-Seattle Post-Intelligencer

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0140270760
• ISBN 13: 9780140270761
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256