A Trust Betrayed

If you like historical novels, Candace Robb's novels are the ones for you. They combine great storytelling with meticulous research. If you've never read them before, you're in for a real treat.

I enjoyed this novel and I am looking forward to the sequel. I found the setting to be very convincing. One of the criterion for a book being readable and engrossing is that I am surprised to look up from the page and find that it is not a wet, chilly spring outside, it's the middle of summer and in the 90s. Robb notes that she has made a judicious use of Scots words, since lowland Scots actually sounded pretty much like the northern English. She does have a glossary in the back, which was very helpful once I found it. Also very useful are a series of maps zeroing in from a map of Britain to the neighborhood of Edinburgh where most of the action takes place. These are not the most charming characters that I have ever met in fiction, although I became fond of some of them, but they are very real: complex, fallible and struggling with the dilemmas in their lives. I care very much what happens to them and I am anxious to read the next installment to find out. The complexity of the Scottish political situation is made plain: there are two chief Scottish contenders for the throne, and unfortunately their adherents sometimes fight one another more than the English who are subjugating them. I love the cover design and illustration by John Martinez.

A Trust Betrayed By Candace Robb ... Setting: 1297, Medieval ScotlandCandace Robb presents the first chapter of Margaret Kerr of Perth in her novel, "A Trust Betrayed." Margaret is the wife of a shipping merchant.Five months have passed since her husband, Roger Sinclair, rode off to Edinburgh. The reason for his departure was not disclosed and Margaret fears the worse. Equally concerned about his cousin's disappearance, Jack Sinclair sets out to find him. He returns to Margaret and her goodmother Katherine, in a burial shroud. The horrid reality of his murder is uncovered when Margaret severs the stitches of Jack's shroud in the lykewake hut. Upon examining the corpse she finds that his stomach and throat are slashed and in his hand lies a small stone. Her only clue in this dark mystery. Determined to learn what is delaying her husband's return and who was responsible for Jack's murder, Margaret leaves her goodmother's home under the escort of her brother, Father Andrew, and Katherine's maid, Celia. Her destination is Edinburgh, which is caught in a power struggle between England and Scotland. Men such as John Balliol, Robert Bruce, Edward Longshanks and William Wallace battle to rule. Margaret and her companions journey through the English patrolled city where death and decay greet them down every street. Her arrival at her uncle's inn is not welcomed for Murdock fears for his niece's safety. He provides her and Celia shelter after Andrew returns to the Abby and the Abbot of Dunfermline but warns her not to question the citizens of Edinburgh. When not busily occupied in the upkeep of the inn, Margaret sets into motion her investigation. With patience and intelligence she not only finds out who killed Jack but uncovers others crimes as well. Every step she makes she is followed by either the English or a man named James Comyn, part owner in her uncle's inn. With the passing of each day, more bodies are found. Even though it is against the abbot's wishes, Andrew assists his sister on her mission. She is befriended by weaver Janet Webster, whose own husband, Davy the smith, was murdered. Woven into the plot and revealed truth by truth is Margaret's husband's involvement with a Mistress Grey and his secretive quest to see the man he believes should be the King of the Scots rise to power.A TRUST BETRAYED is a historical adventure well researched by its author. The reader travels along with Margaret in a place where lives are extinguished because of allegiance. Every knock at the door and every shadow could mean the end of her own life. Margaret's courage and determination place her in uncommon situations for women of her day. And you stand by her and respect her through it all. The language will slow you down as the tale unfolds but it's essential to the storytelling. I anxiously await the second book in this series not so much to see if Margaret and her husband are reunited, but to see if her mother's prophecy is fulfilled. Read the book to find ou

Candace Robb has outdone herself with this first book of her Scottish series. I was particularly taken with her beautiful use of language as she draws the reader into this new milieu and family of characters. She sets the stage deftly - a cold, muddy Edinburgh teeming with hostile English troops, where people arriving are moved through the city's gate "like sheep being tagged and herded from field to fold" whilst "a siege engine warps in the rain" and merchants shutter up their shops because it simply isn't safe to be abroad. The pragmatic prudence required to survive in this sinister environment is a hard lesson for the strong-minded Margaret to learn as she struggles with getting to the bottom of things. Where is her husband? Why has he been so elusive? Is there another woman involved? Does the key to Roger's disappearance lie in uncovering who murdered Jack? Does she even have a marriage in any real sense? Robb is equally deft in introducing us to the men and women who inhabit this world, and the realistic evolution of their relationships is the book's greatest strength. There is Uncle Murdoch: is he a petty criminal, or a patriot (to whose cause?), or both? How much can Margaret rely on this childhood-beloved relative? And her brother Andrew, an Augustinian canon who moves from being a thin-lipped prig to a man who defies his Bishop on Margaret's behalf because he comes to believe that "Family comes first after God..." And Celia, the bright, pouting servant-girl who unwillingly accompanies Margaret on her quest, thinks herself above working in Murdoch's inn, and becomes a loyal and useful collaborator as Margaret unravels the mystery of Jack's death. And there is the wild-card, enigmatic James Comyn, whose loyalties and politics are tantalizingly complex and never quite clear. As Margaret sees it, her trust has been betrayed everywhere she looks: "Roger had abandoned her, Murdoch and Andrew had kept information from her. Jack had dallied with her, and none of them trusted that she had any wits." With so much uncertainty and danger on all sides, I found it endearing that a frustrated Margaret, stout-hearted as she is, one night takes a little too much ale..... The ending of the book holds a brilliant balance, providing a satisfying resolution to the immediate mystery while sowing the seeds for the sequel to come. This is a great read, with solid historical research underlying a gripping personal story.

In 1297 Scotland, Margaret already shocked by her husband Roger Sinclair not returning home from a trip to Edinburgh five months ago is further stunned. Roger's cousin Jack, who went in search of his missing relative, has just returned home in a shroud. Jack allegedly died in a barroom brawl. Upon inspecting the corpse, Margaret realizes that someone deliberately and viciously murdered Jack. Unable to sit and wait any longer, Margaret travels to Edinburgh in search of her spouse and Jack's killer. She will soon learn why no one including relatives and her husband wants Margaret in the city, let alone her investigating a murder. Readers can trust that Candace Robb will never betray their belief in the quality of her historical novels. Her latest tale is a historical mystery that is enriched with a strong feel of the era. The story line is exciting as the intrepid Margaret conducts her amateur sleuthing over the objections of seemingly everyone. A TRUST BETRAYED is hopefully the beginning of a new series from one of the better authors of medieval tales (see the Owen Archer novels for wonderful fifteenth century period mysteries).Harriet Klausner