Writ in stone

Mara, Brehon of the Burren, must determine the culprit and allocate punishment when a man is violently murdered as he kneels before the altar of the Cistercian Abbey sanctuary two days before Christmas, while leaders of the O'Brien clan gather to honor the memory of a revered ancestor and celebrate Mara's impending marriage to Turlough, their king. But was the dead man the intended victim, or did the assassin confuse him with Turlough, scheduled to take the first vigil? Romantic and political intrigues abound in Harrison's evocative and very accessible Irish historical mystery, fourth in the Burren series, set in 1509, which offers an intimate glimpse of this pivotal time when conflicts between Ireland's rule by law and Rome's attempts to broaden its power base were exacerbated by King Henry VIII's forays into the area to annex its many small independent kingdoms. Readers new to the author and the setting will find this installment a good introduction.--Welch, Lynne Copyright 2009 Booklist

At the outset of Harrison's outstanding fourth 16th-century historical to feature Mara-brehon (a kind of magistrate) of the Burren, a kingdom on the west coast of Ireland (after The Sting of Justice, Oct. 19)-King Turlough O'Brien decides at the last minute to skip an overnight church vigil before an ancestor's tomb. As a result, an assassin instead bludgeons to death the man who takes his place, the king's cousin Mahon O'Brien. Mara, the king's fiancee, isn't entirely sure that her husband-to-be was the intended victim and focuses her investigation on those who would have benefited from the death of Turlough or his cousin, including Mahon's widows and the king's potential heirs. Harrison provides a textbook example of how to do a historical right by artfully combining an insightful and sympathetic detective with a fair-play puzzle and a plausible depiction of the period. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved