The Council of the Cursed (Sister Fidelma Series #17)

by Peter Tremayne

Overview

In A.D. 670 Fidelma of Cashel is asked to act as an advisor to the Irish delegation to a hostile church council. In an abbey in Burgundy, Bishop Leodegar of Autun has assembled church leaders from all over western Europe, intending to use the council to deliver a death blow to the Celtic Church. But his plans are threatened when one of the delgates is found murdered, his skull crushed.

Fidelma and her husband, Brother Eadulf, are suddenly in the midst of a murder investigation involving some of the most powerful religious leaders. The duo soon find that between the autocratic Bishop Leodegar and the malignant abbess, Mother Audofleda, a web of sinister intrigue is spreading throughout the abbey. And murder is only the beginning. The theft of a priceless reliquary box, the disappearance of local women and children, and the concurrent rumors of a slave trade all combine to make this one of the most diabolical puzzles that Fidelma and Eadulf have ever faced.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312604936
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/23/2010
Series:	Sister Fidelma Series , #17
Edition description:	Seventeenth Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	8.48(w) x 11.88(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

PETER TREMAYNE is a pseudonym of Peter Berresford Ellis, a renowned scholar who has written extensively on the ancient Celts and the Irish. As Tremayne, he is best known for his stories and novels featuring Fidelma of Cashel, beginning with Absolution by Murder. He lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

Tremayne's seamless blend of church history ... and political squabbles ... provide meaty background. Fidelma's ability to best opponents, whether in argument, strategy or audacity, makes her a heroine for any age.” —Publishers Weekly

“One of Fidelma's best.” —Kirkus Reviews

“No one can make the seventh century come so alive as the pseudonymous Tremayne.... His entire series is great for book discussions, and devotees of medieval historicals will enjoy.” —Library Journal 

From the Publisher

Sent to France as advisors to the Celtic church, Fidelma of Cashel and her husband Brother Eadulf find dissension and murder. Bishop Leodegar of Autun, who is hosting church leaders from various areas of western Europe, is an innovative administrator whose community has recently embraced celibacy, a new departure for the Roman church in 670 CE. Monks living at his abbey have been forced to put aside their wives and children, most of whom are now living at the Domus Femini under the rule of iron-fisted Abbess Autofleda. Fidelma and Eadulf arrive on the heels of a murder: The corpse of Hibernian Abbot Dabh-c has been found in a room with two unconscious clerics, who both deny any complicity in the crime. Leodegar finds it distasteful to have a woman investigate, but Fidelma's reputation (Dancing with Demons, 2008, etc.) precedes her, and the powerful papal delegate knows her from a former case. A slave trader, a young monk whose love is missing from the Domus Femini, and the passive, carousing local governor's powerful mother all come under Fidelma's scrutiny. Suspecting that there is more to this murder than meets the eye, she resists pressure to come up with a quick solution, putting her life in danger to save innocent lives and reveal a complicated plot. One of Fidelma's best, and the subject of clerical celibacy is particularly relevant today.

Kirkus Reviews