Sometimes all I read is mysteries. And when I do, Sister Fidelma, who lives in 7th century Ireland, is one of my favorites. A Prayer for the Damned – A Mystery of Ancient Ireland, is written by Peter Tremayne, a famed Irish scholar, himself steeped in that time and place.
Sr. Fidelma is the sister of the King of Cashel, a daleigh (a high-ranking judge in the legal system), a nun who has a son and is about to have a husband. It is in the gathering for Fidelma’s marriage at the castle that the murder occurs, which delays the marriage until the solution is found. And the guy who has been murdered, an Abbot, is a really bad guy – almost no one is mourning him.
I love immersing myself in that time and place as well, and curling up with a Sr. Fidelma book is one of my favorite things to do. The series is full of intricate stories and details and descriptions of the landscape that bring Ireland immediately into my space.
There’s also an International Sr. Fidelma Society on the web. So I could stay immersed even more, if need be. If you need more persuasion – Sr. Fidelma also has a twinkle in her eye, and a terrific sense of humor.