Mistress of the Art of Death

Mistress of the Art of Death, by Ariana Franklin

Summary:
In medieval Cambridge, England, Adelia, a female forensics expert, is summoned by King Henry II to investigate a series of gruesome murders that has wrongly implicated the Jewish population, yielding even more tragic results. As Adelia’s investigation takes her behind the closed doors of the country’s churches, the killer prepares to strike again. [from Penguin Random House, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/300248/mistress-of-the-art-of-death-by-ariana-franklin/9780425219256/]

Group Reviews/Comments:

5 thumbs up
0 thumbs down

There was a very passionate discussion about this book, and all who read it were unanimous in their praise.  However, there were a few people who literally couldn’t get passed the first couple chapters before giving up.  Those who loved it felt the writing was really good, so it is probably a stylistic issue.

People liked the main character a lot and she was compared to both a female Sherlock Holmes and also a Kay Scarpetta (from the Temperance Brennan books/tv show).  There was one comment likening the book to a coming of age story for the main character, as she (and we) learns about herself as the plot and mystery develop.

The time and place were well fleshed out and the group commented on the way the writer portrayed the tension between the King and the Church.  The book was historically interesting, delving into how society worked back then and the religious feelings against the Jewish community.

There were elements that were hard to read.  People commented on how the treatment of Jews and women were a difficult part of the book; there was also mention of parallels to today’s misogyny and racism.

The mystery had a great twist ending and was a surprise to everyone.  Keep in mind our group’s “detectives” are good at sleuthing out solutions to mysteries so this must have been extremely well written!

Finally, a few people talked about the “dark” feel of the book, that is was definitely not bedtime reading!  There was an alternate view that it wasn’t as dark as it could have been, that it skipped over descriptions of what could have made it much more difficult to read. All agreed that the snippets of humor throughout helped to balance out the tone.