The Lady Agnes Mystery

September 21, 2015
Agnès de Souarcy, the widowed French noblewoman who’s the heroine of Japp’s suspenseful medieval whodunit, has had to contend from her youth with her lustful half-brother, Eudes, the Baron of Larnay. Her husband afforded her some protection during his lifetime, but Agnès is once again subject to Eudes’s lecherous advances, which have begun extending to her 11-year-old daughter, Mathilde. Agnès’s travails play out against a complicated political background, as the Catholic Church and even the pope, Benoit XI, are enmeshed in murderous intrigue. Meanwhile, someone is killing friars and slashing their faces postmortem, possibly in an attempt to make their deaths seem the work of a wild animal. Japp does a fine job conveying the state of forensic science of the age. For example, the level of development of maggots on a corpse is used as a method of identifying the time of death. Readers will eagerly look forward to the next installment in this historical series.

November 23, 2015
Set in 14th-century France, Japp’s first Lady Agnès mystery introduced a wide range of characters and plot lines. Newcomers will welcome this engaging sequel’s three-page synopsis of what’s come before: intrigue involving an attempt to assassinate Pope Benoit XI; the search for a lost treatise; and the tribulations of Agnes de Souarcy, a young noblewoman who has barely escaped a charge of heresy. The main story line expands and the characters deepen, as evidence emerges that Agnès may be the subject of a prophecy, whose fulfillment is feared by the prime mover in the plot to kill Benoit—the pope’s own treasurer and secretary, Honorius Benedetti. Meanwhile, a poisoner who claimed several lives in the previous book remains active and at large. Fans of Dumas Père’s historical romances will find it easy to get lost in this satisfying and atmospheric visit to another time.