Showing results for "The Sisters" in Historical

The sisters at a lonely Cornish convent share a chilling secret they cannot confess...Sister Sophia is dead. Another disappears. And a mysterious last letter from a dying nun is sent to the prioress. Sister Joan has faced her own demons. Now she is sent to the convent to investigate, as well as teach the local children. There are whispers of virgin sacrifice and suicide, and the mother prioress certainly wears pink nail varnish. And who is the young man hiding in the bracken?

As the leading churchmen and women gather at the Synod of Whitby in AD 664 to debate the rival merits of the Celtic and Roman Churches, tempers begin to fray. Conspirators plot an assassination, while mysterious, violent death stalks the shadowy cloisters of the Abbey of St Hilda. When the Abbess Etain, a leading speaker for the Celtic Church, is found murdered, suspicion inevitably rests on the Roman faction. Attending the Synod is Fidelma, of the community of St Brigid of Kildare.

The year is 1845, and Emily, Charlotte and Anne Bronte are sat around the dining room table, laughing merrily as the rain of their Yorkshire summer falls outside. When their brother, Branwell, returns from The Bull Inn, he brings with him the most shocking revelation: that Elizabeth Chester, wife of Robert Chester and mistress of Chester Grange, has gone missing - but the bloody scene found in her bedroom suggests she may have been murdered.

Super sleuth Sister Fidelma returns in Smoke in the Wind, the 11th perplexing historical mystery by Peter Tremayne. Sister Fidelma and her companion, Brother Eadulf, are on their way to visit the new Archbishop of Canterbury when their ship is blown off course and they land on the coast of the Welsh kingdom of Dyfed.

A servant has been murdered and the baby in her charge abducted. Fidelma of Cashel has solved even more horrendous crimes in her career as an advocate of the ancient Brehon Courts of Ireland. But this case is different. For both Sister Fidelma and her companion, Brother Eadulf of Saxmund's Ham, the case is unique because of the personal emotions involved. The baby who has been abducted is their own son. What is the motive for their crime? Could someone seeking vengeance on Fidelma and Eadulf have done the deed? They have made a lot of enemies in their pursuit of justice.

AD 670. An Irish merchant ship is attacked by a pirate vessel off the coast of the Breton peninsular. Murchad, the captain, and a prince from the kingdom of Muman are killed in cold blood after they have surrendered. Among the other passengers who manage to escape the slaughter are Sister Fidelma of Cashel and her faithful companion, Brother Eadulf. The prince was Fidelma's cousin, and she is determined to bring the killers to justice....

Norah Thornby can no longer afford to live in her grand family home - unless she can find a respectable lodger. But Nurse Lettie Quick is not nearly as respectable as she seems. Meanwhile the beautiful Rae Grainger is staying in an isolated house miles away from the town. It’s certainly rather creepy, but Rae knows that all she has to do is stay out of sight until paid-professional others take her little problem away.

February, AD 668, and Cashel is full of distinguished visitors. Under the old Irish custom, Fidelma of Cashel and Eadulf of Seaxmund's Ham, having been joined together for a year and a day, are to be married. But on the eve of the ceremony, the pious Abbot Ultán is found murdered in his chamber. Worse still - one of the most distinguished guests, the King of Connacht, is seen fleeing from the scene and charged with the murder. He demands his right to appoint Fidelma in his defence.

Ireland, AD 671. King Colgú of Cashel is shocked to learn that his loyal Chief Bishop and advisor has been murdered in the old enemy fortress of the Uí Fidgente. When word reaches Cashel that the culprit will be executed under new law, a larger conflict threatens. Dispatched to investigate, Sister Fidelma and her companion, Eadulf, discover that the man facing punishment is Gormán - commander of the King's bodyguard. But Fidelma cannot believe Gormán would carry out such an act - and yet he was found locked in a chamber with the body, weapon in hand.

Ireland, AD 671. The Great Fair of Bealtain is almost upon the fortress of Cashel, and a line of painted wagons carries entertainers to mark the occasion. But preparations take a deathly turn when one carriage is set alight, and two corpses are found, lying poisoned, within. As Sister Fidelma and her companion, Eadulf, investigate, they are plunged into the menacing marshlands of Osraige - where the bloody origin of the Abbey of Cainnech is wreaking his revenge.

In the mid-7th century AD, the Venerable Dacán, a much respected and beloved scholar of the Celtic Church, has been found murdered while on a visit to a remote abbey in the Irish Kingdom of Muman. When Dacán's foul death is used by a neighbouring kingdom to demand reparation from Muman, bloody war seems imminent. Summoned by Muman's dying king to investigate, Sister Fidelma is asked to solve the mystery of the brutal killing and by doing so to prevent the inevitable war breaking out between the two opposing kingdoms.

Constance Kopp doesn't quite fit the mould. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or domestic affairs, and has been isolated from the world by a family secret. When a ruthless factory owner runs down their buggy, a dispute over damages turns into a war as he unleashes his gang. The sheriff enlists her help, and it turns out that Constance has a knack for outwitting the criminal element which might just lead her onto a new path in life.

Suspicion falls on three dark strangers from the distant land of Aksum (Ethiopia), who are guests at the Abbey of Finbarr. A panic-stricken mob attacks the abbey, leaving the religious in fear for their lives. Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf are called in to restore order and find the killer, but it soon becomes clear that the three mysterious strangers are hiding a dark secret. And what about the ageing Laig, a hermit-like apothecary, who is known to have instructed all three victims about the magic and power of the moon....

Wighard, archbishop designate of Canterbury, has been discovered garrotted in his chambers in the Lateran Palace in Rome in the autumn of AD 664. The solution to this terrible crime appears simple as the palace guards have arrested Brother Ronan Ragallach, as he fled from Wighard's chamber. Although the Irish monk denies responsibility, Bishop Gelasius is convinced the crime is political and that Wighard was slain in pique at the triumph of the pro-Roman Anglo-Saxon clergy in their debate with the pro-Columba Irish clergy at Whitby.

While out walking, Abbot Brocc was shocked to encounter the sinister apparition of a young woman, cloaked entirely in grey, who foretold his impending death. Dismissing the soothsayer's words, Brocc nevertheless felt concerned enough to ask for Sister Fidelma's advice on the matter. But by the time Fidelma and her companions arrive at the remote abbey of Dair Inis, Brocc has been found dead in the abbey's sweat house - as the mysterious prophetess had predicted.

On a storm-driven night, wreckers drive a ship onto rocks off the coast of Ireland. An Abbess leading a pilgrimage is killed and the young religieuse with her abducted. An aging scholar is murdered in the Abbey of Ard Fhearta. Do these events have a connection? Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf go to Ard Fhearta to examine the mystery. But the abbey stands in the territory of the Uí Fidgente, enemies of Fidelma and her brother, the King of Cashel, and danger threatens Fidelma and Eadulf from the moment of their arrival. What is the link that connects the crimes?

Ireland. AD 672. The body of a dead man has been found on a lonely mountain road and taken to the isolated abbey of Gleann Da Loch for a proper burial. The abbot quickly identifies him as Brehon Brocc, who had been travelling to the abbey on a secret mission with Princess Gelgeis and her steward. When news reaches Colgu, king of Muman, that his betrothed, Princess Gelgeis, has disappeared, Fidelma with her trusted companions, Eadulf and Enda, enter the hostile Kingdom of Laigin in search of the truth.

Ebert is not a man to make enemies. He is a chieftain with a reputation for kindliness and generosity. Yet, one night, his household is aroused by a scream from his chamber. The servants burst in to find Móen, a young man to whom Eber had extended his protection, crouched over the bloody body of the chieftain. Móen's clothes are drenched in Eber's blood, and he is clutching a bloodstained knife in his hand.There seems no doubt of culpability, but why did Móen kill the gentle and courteous Eber?

Sister Fidelma is thrown into a sinister mystery full of intrigue, danger and violence in Peter Tremayne's fourth Celtic mystery. A headless female corpse is found in the drinking well of a remote abbey in southwest Ireland. One hand clasps a crucifix; tied to the other arm is a pagan death symbol. A merchant ship is encountered under full sail on the high seas off the Irish coast. But the crew and cargo have vanished - as if by sorcery. Whose is the body in the well? Where is the crew of the vessel? Are these bizarre events connected? And if so, who is responsible?

Whispers of the Dead is a sumptuously rich feast of 15 short mystery tales, featuring the brilliant and beguiling Sister Fidelma, the 17th-century sleuth of the Celtic Church. Sister Fidelma originally made her debut as one of crime fiction's most interesting sleuths in short story form. The sharp-witted religieuse captured the hearts of many readers as she successfully tackled the most baffling of crimes in her other role as advocate of the law courts of Ireland, using the ancient Brehon Law system.