Cursed in the Blood
A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery
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4.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The fifth in Sharan Newman's highly authentic and richly praised series, Cursed in the Blood finds Catherine LeVendeur venturing to the cold and tumultuous homeland of her husband--only to realize that vast differences between Edgar's family and her own.
After making the pilgrimage to Compostela and giving birth to a son, Catherine LeVendeur is looking forward to an idyllic life at home in Paris. Yet her contentment is shattered when she and Edgar receive news from his family: Edgar's two oldest brothers have been ambushed and murdered, and he must return to Scotland to help avenge their deaths. At first, Edgar refuses to go, knowing what may await them in his war torn homeland. But Catherine believes in family loyalty and insists upon accompanying him with their baby.
Once in Scotland, Catherine is surprised to learn that Edger's family is not what she imagined: His father, Waldeve, is a cold tyrant, and his remaining siblings are distant and secretive. Separated from Edgar during their efforts to uncover the truth, Catherine is expelled from his family's care. She becomes a stranger in a strange land, searching for refuge in a country ravaged by civil war at the same time she searches for her husband. Yet she knows that any haven she finds will only be temporary until she answers this question: Who among Waldeve's enemies hates him passionately enough to destroy his whole family--including, she fears, his infant grandson?
Winner of the Herodotus Award for Best Historical Mystery
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the fifth book of the Catherine LeVendeur series (after Strong as Death, 1996), Newman once again brings medieval times to life. Catherine, Edgar and their baby, James, leave France for Scotland after receiving news that Edgar's two oldest brothers and his nephew have recently been ambushed and murdered. Meeting her in-laws for the first time, Catherine learns that Edgar's harsh father is hated by all his subjects and feared by his family, especially his second wife. The patriarch is worried not only about his family troubles but also about the disputed bishopric of Durham. After the men ride off to help William Cumin win the see and also find the killer of Edgar's brothers, Catherine befriends her husband's stepmother and the woman's daughter. She also discovers an emaciated anonymous prisoner on the estate whom no one knows about. When the manor burns to the ground, she, James, the stepmother, the stepmother's daughter and the prisoner save themselves and seek asylum on an island cloister. While Edgar becomes more embroiled in the religious war and Catherine fights to keep her surrogate family alive, they come to realize that someone is trying to wipe out Edgar's family and, separately, they both slowly hone in on the culprit. If the pace is slow and the language sometimes anachronistically modern, Newman nevertheless manages to render the complicated matters of state and church interesting and comprehensible.
Customer Reviews
Page turner
Despite the poor editing, I enjoyed.