Master of Souls: A Mystery of Ancient Ireland (Sister Fidelma Mystery Series) » (Reprint)

PETER TREMAYNE is a pseudonym of Peter Berresford Ellis, a Celtic scholar who has written extensively on the Ancient Celts and the Irish. As Tremayne, he is best known for his stories and novels featuring 7th century Irish religieuse Fidelma of Cashel. He lives in London.

In January of 668 A.D., Fidelma of Cashel - sister to the king of Muman, advocate of the Brehon law courts and religieuse in the Celtic Church - is called to investigate the brutal murder of Abbess Faife and the mysterious disappearance of six young female religieuse while away on a short pilgramage away from their abbey. But when Fidelma and her husband, Eadulf, arrive, they are confronted with another violent murder under mysterious circumstances. One of the senior scholars was bludgeoned to death in the oratory.

With evidence of shipwreckers and the rumored figure of "The Master of Souls", a mysterious rabble rouser, roaming the nearby countryside wrecking havoc and raising rebellion, both complicating matters, the redoubtable Fidelma is faced with her most perplexing mystery ever.

Publishers Weekly

Set in A.D. 668, the pseudonymous Tremayne's pitch-perfect 16th mystery to feature Fidelma of Cashel (after 2005's The Leper's Bell) takes some diverting detours into politics, monastic life, the importance of bloodlines and the working of civil law vs. the emerging power of the Roman Catholic church. Fidelma, a d laigh (or advocate of the law courts), follows a difficult path in an effort to solve the murder of Abbess Faife of Fhearta Abbey and the abduction of six novices in the abbess's charge. The subsequent bludgeoning death of Cin ed, an elderly scholar in residence at the abbey, and the wrecking of a ship on the west Irish coast complicate her task. Once again, Tremayne, the author of many books on the ancient Celts under his real name of Peter Berresford Ellis, transports the reader to an unfamiliar time and place with a sure scholarly touch. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.