Thursday, January 28, 2010

Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin (2009)

The third book in this wonderful series of 12th century England where the Bones of that period - Adelia Aguilar, Mistress of the Art of Death - solves another mystery. She is brought in to identify a pair of bones thought to be King Arthur and Guinevere at the abbey in Glastonbury, which has recently burned down (she solves that one too.) Her friend Elen (?) disappears, so she has to save her too. What I liked best about this book was the description of the evolution of the legal system in England, imposed by Henry II. We see the old system, where disputes were settled by fights between champions from both sides. But in the new system involves trials, juries and traveling judges. I also was intrigued by the way they kept the lower classes in check by having each assigned to a cohort of 10 or 12. If any one of them does something unlawful, they all get punished, thus they keep each other in line. Adelia runs into one cohort whose member supposedly burned down the abbey, but makes friends with them.