A Murdered Peace

A Murdered Peace (2018) Candace Robb

Set in England in 1400

The Epiphany Uprising has seemingly secured King Henry the Usurper, and Lady Margery has appealed to Kate for safety after her husband was murdered by a mob. Berend, Kate’s cook, has also disappeared and Kate doesn’t know whether either of her friends were involved in the conspiracy.

There is a lot happening in this story. Kate’s ward Petra has disturbing dreams that may be foreseeing, and none of them are good; Berend is gone and has left Kate feeling abandoned; Clement, who has been keeping her accounts since her husband died and left her in debt, is growing more frail, and less able to manage; and Kate has discovered she has conflicted feelings for ELric, wanting to trust him, but unwilling to share secrets that are not hers.

I read this mostly before bed, which means that I frequently had to go back and re-read because I’d lost the thread of the story while falling asleep, which wasn’t the best for a story when I’d forgotten many of the characters from the first book.

Here’s something I hadn’t considered about homes of the time.

In her old house, the steps up to the solar were inside the hall, an added security; here, the stairs to the second story chambers were outside the house. In warm weather they might keep the door near the foot of the steps open, so that anyone in the hall might see someone approaching, but in winter that was not feasible. So they’d installed a noisy gate at the bottom, not locked, but hung on its hinge so that it gave a loud, harsh squeak when swung open— unless one knew how to lift it and swing it out.

Not only was there no indoor plumbing, but you often had to go outside to get to rooms on the second floor (like bedrooms). Makes sense to save space inside, but seems like it would make a house harder to heat, with so many doors opening to the outside.

This is another interesting bit.

Edmund Cottesbrok, one of the sheriffs, strode through the door, preceded by his clerk holding aloft his mace of office as he announced his master’s presence. Elric had forgotten the ceremony with which the sheriffs proceeded through the city.

I suppose it’s not that different from a law officer wearing a uniform to designate their office, but it’s something I’d never considered.

I did like this story, but it was difficult having forgotten most of the bits of the previous book. There is apparently another book, which I feel like I should read while this story is fresh in my mind, but I don’t want to spend the price of a new release, so I think I’ll wait. (This book never went on sale, which is what took me so long to read it, since it wasn’t available at the library.)

Publisher: Pegasus Books
Rating: 7/10

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