Act of Mercy

My wife bought about 30 books for a few bucks at a church yard sale. Many of Peter Tremayne's books were in with the ones she purchased. Several months later I began reading them. They were good. I enjoy the mysteries. I love Tremayne's viewpoint on the Irish Catholic Church. His characters are broad, but nonetheless enjoyable. However I found Act of Mercy to be the best title so far. It moves quickly and engages the reader better than the previous books. This is not great literature, but it's pretty darn cool to read.

I freely admit that Peter Tremayne is not a good writer. At his worst he sounds like he is across the room shouting the narrative at you. His detective, Sister Fidelma comes across like a mixture of Perry Mason, Kung Fu and Sherlock Holmes, with poor old Brother Ealdwolf her happy bumbling Watson. However there are simply not enough books about Dark Age (he would dispute the term) Irish judge magistrates in a religious order. In this book where we have Sister Fidelma leaving Ealdwolf behind as she ponders her dedication to law and religion, she sets sail with a group of contentious and mismatched pilgrims. And, lo and behold, she finds one of the pilgrims to be a blast from her own past. And he hasn't changed much at all. Then a woman disappears and is presumed lost overboard and Fidelma begins to investigate that and other strange happenings on a small boat. Add Saxon slavers (Wo-DEN, Wo-DEN), heavy weather at sea and a dreadful ship wreck resulting in a rescue that further complicates the case. You can tell that Tremayne is really trying to give Sister Fidelma more depth and character and because he is doing something different I'm inclined to give him an A for Effort.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of ships and Celtic history. The writing style is a significant improvement from Tremayne's Shroud for the Archbishop - those who were disappointed with the quality of the writing and characterization in that book may now want to give the series another try. Although the author's biases still come through at times, they are more often hinted than shouted (which was a problem for Shroud), and the characters are considerably fuller and richer.

In this story Sister Fidelmas is making a pilgrimage to visit a Saint's shrine in Iberia. She is without the faithful Eadulf, and , in fact, she has deliberately made this trip in order to try to assess her feelings for Eadulf and to asses the validity of her religious calling. In order to get to Iberia she must take ship. She books with a group of pilgrims that are going to visit the same shrine that she is going to, but what an ill-assorted group they are. There are a lot of tensions in the group, and it's not long after they get out to sea before murder occurs. We meet a lot of wonderful characters in this book, and the sea theme is good. Fidelma does manage to figure out the murderer, but not before other bodies turn up. In fact, she narrowly misses being one of them herself.

Sister Fidelma of Cashmal, daughter and sister to kings, takes a pilgrimage to Iberia to visit the Shrine of St. James. She needs a respite from her royal sibling and from the Saxon monk Eadulf. She knows she has found her life's calling as a religieure, but hopes this odyssey will help her sort some mixed feelings especially her feelings about Eadulf. Alas, poor Fidelma received no respite on her trek as her luck deserts her from the start when she meets first love Cian, who unceremoniously dumped her years ago. Soon two women are killed and attempts on Fidelma's life occur. With the ship's captain blessing, Fidelma begins investigating the homicides. In the eighth installment of the Sister Fidelma historical mysteries, readers obtain a glimpse at the heart and soul of the heroine that paints a vivid picture of life in eight-century Ireland. The who-done-it is a marvelous piece of misdirection, as the villain remains hidden until the end. When revealed, the audience will feel pity towards the culprit. ACT OF MERCY is a fantastic Dark Ages who-done-it.Harriet Klausner