{"id":6041,"date":"2016-09-04T18:33:20","date_gmt":"2016-09-04T22:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=6041"},"modified":"2021-12-15T21:21:26","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T02:21:26","slug":"the-riddle-of-st-leonards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6041","title":{"rendered":"The Riddle of St. Leonard’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Riddle of St. Leonard’s<\/a><\/em> (1997) Candace Robb<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The-Riddle-of-St-Leonards\"<\/a>Set in England in 1369<\/p>\n

The plague has again come to England, although not as severe as the previous two outbreaks, it still strikes fear into everyone, as they attempt to find ways to protect themselves.<\/p>\n

Aromatic fires burned everywhere to ward off the pestilence, creating a fog in some of the passageways.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2018With each visitation of the pestilence folk have become more inventive with their precautions. A wealthy merchant asked yesterday for enough crushed diamonds to strew round his bed and cut Death\u2019s feet to shreds.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As they led the donkey cart through the streets to St Mary\u2019s, folk fled before them. Bess felt as if she were Moses parting the Red Sea. And it came to her that this plague with which God punished them for their sins made greater sinners of them all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, there have been a rash of deaths of corrodians at St Leonard’s, and Richard de Ravenser leaves the side of the dying queen to attempt to resolve the issue. Archbishop John Thoresby offers his spy Owen Arch to assist, although Owen believes his place is in the apothecary, helping his wife during the outbreak.<\/p>\n

There are some amusing bits, despite the dread and gloom of the plague.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ve come for more mallow, is what. Lot fell off shelf and dog ate it.\u2019 <\/p>\n

As Lucie turned to fetch the mallow jar, Owen saw her bite back a smile. He leaned over the counter. <\/p>\n

\u2018How is the dog?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018Empty!\u2019 Mistress Miller said with a loud guffaw,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is, for those who have been reading along, a death of a beloved character in this book. Actually, it’s surprising there are not more deaths, although this was noted.<\/p>\n

Records of this outbreak are sketchy, but most agree that it took mostly the elderly or infirm and children, which suggests to our modern way of thinking that people were building up an immunity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The old woman pulled a pouch from her voluminous robes, took out a small bottle. \u2018A tonic for old bones, Infirmarian. Thou must keep up thy strength for the work ahead of thee.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Wulfstan hesitated. Her remedies were said to be comforting; but did she say pagan charms over them? <\/p>\n

\u2018It contains naught harmful to thy Christian soul,\u2019 Magda said. <\/p>\n

Wulfstan pressed his hands together and bowed towards her. \u2018Forgive me.\u2019 He reached for the offering. \u2018God bless you, Mistress Digby.\u2019 Surely God would forgive him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I loved all the historical bits, and I also loved the mystery.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Diversion Books<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Riddle of St. Leonard’s (1997) Candace Robb Set in England in 1369 The plague has again come to England, although not as severe as the previous two outbreaks, it still strikes fear into everyone, as they attempt to find ways to protect themselves. Aromatic fires burned everywhere to ward off the pestilence, creating a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[30,33,8],"tags":[159,549,186],"class_list":["post-6041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","tag-candace-robb","tag-high-middle-ages","tag-owen-archer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1zr","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12479,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12479","url_meta":{"origin":6041,"position":0},"title":"The Riddle of St. Leonard’s","author":"Michelle","date":"February 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Riddle of St. Leonard's (1997) Candace Robb Setin England in 1369 The plague has come again to York, and people are taking whatever measures they can to protect themselves. Aromatic fires burned everywhere to ward off the pestilence, creating a fog in some of the passageways. Continuous Masses were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Riddle of St Leonards","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Riddle-of-St-Leonards.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6079,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6079","url_meta":{"origin":6041,"position":1},"title":"The Guilt of Innocents","author":"Michelle","date":"September 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Guilt of Innocents (2006) Candace Robb Set in England in 1372 A river pilot falls into a the Ouse during a skirmish with students (male) from the Minster School. When pulled from the river he is found to have cuts that start bleeding just as head of a competing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"guilt-of-innocents","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Guilt-of-Innocents.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6034,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6034","url_meta":{"origin":6041,"position":2},"title":"The Nun’s Tale","author":"Michelle","date":"August 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Nun's Tale (1995) Candace Robb Set in England in 1366. This is the first Owen Archer book I read, many years ago, and I have forgotten how very unlikable the nun of the title was. (T)here is yet something else\u2014 something that frightens her. She was given the last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The-Nuns-Tale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/The-Nuns-Tale.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6083,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6083","url_meta":{"origin":6041,"position":3},"title":"A Vigil of Spies","author":"Michelle","date":"September 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A Vigil of Spies (2008) Candace Robb Set in England in 1373 Archbishop Thoresby of York is dying. He has lived far longer than most people in his time and place, and now he finishing all the little things left undone in the time he has left. Perhaps he was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"a-vigil-of-spies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/A-Vigil-of-Spies.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10913,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10913","url_meta":{"origin":6041,"position":4},"title":"The Service of the Dead","author":"Michelle","date":"June 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Service of the Dead (2016) Candace Robb Set in York, England in 1399 Kate Clifford is a widow struggling to recoup the financial losses of her husband while trying to maintain her independence and avoid a marriage pushed upon her by family. And also to stay out of politics.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/The-Service-of-the-Dead.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6063,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6063","url_meta":{"origin":6041,"position":5},"title":"The Cross-Legged Knight","author":"Michelle","date":"September 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Cross-Legged Knight (2002) Candace Robb Set in England in 1371. Lucie has been recovering from a fall that caused her to lose the baby she was carrying, and as she recovers she struggles not only with a darkness that has fallen upon her, as well as Owen's protectiveness, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"the-cross-legged-knight","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/The-Cross-Legged-Knight.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}