The Night of the Wolf

June 1, 2020
The body of a young woman appears, her throat slit, along a water channel in 1399 London. Though the corpse is nude, her ring identifies her as a novice from a nearby abbey. Soon, conflicting rumors about the events leading to her death run rampant, and Rodric Chandler, a morally conflicted friar with a secret, is determined to track down her murderer, aided by the town coroner and an ambitious, young, servant girl who finds herself drawn to Chandler despite herself. This medieval mystery, the first in a new series, is set against the real-life backdrop of Lord Henry Bolingbroke scheming for the crown and Geoffrey Chaucer penning The Canterbury Tales. The history is meticulously researched and depicted, with sprinklings of fact on almost every page, so much so that Brother Chandler's sleuthing may appeal to nonfiction readers looking for variety in their reading just as much as the fans of Clark's popular Abbess Hildegard of Meaux series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2023
England in 1400 is a dangerous place for Brother Rodric Chandler--friar, lover, and solver of mysteries. After having narrowly escaped being burned at the stake in London, a badly beaten Chandler is in Chester on his way to Dieulacres Abbey, where he hopes to find a home for the banned booklets penned by Master Chaucer. His host is Master John Willoughby, a wealthy merchant whose much younger wife, Evelyn, is rebuffed by Chandler when she crawls into his bed. She steals a booklet, but Chandler recovers it and leaves immediately for the abbey, where the monks support the legitimate King Richard against the usurper Henry IV. Since Henry's minions are burning books and slaughtering anyone who gets in their way, the monks agree to hide Chaucer's booklets. They urge Chandler to return to Willoughby, who knows someone who'll help keep banned books safe, and he arrives to hear that Evelyn has died after falling (or getting pushed) from her roof garden. When Willoughby asks Chandler to find her killer, he talks to some servants who reluctantly admit to having seen a stranger enter the house. Chandler's other responsibilities include a trip in disguise to London, where he hopes to see his lover, who's about to give birth to their child. Eventually his journey takes him to Wales, where Henry's troops have been beaten back. With no idea whom to trust, he must rely on his wits to survive. Packed with historical detail and dangerous exploits, the least of which is finding a killer.

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Starred review from April 3, 2023
Clark shines in her third 15th-century murder mystery featuring Rodric Chandler (after 2021’s The Day of the Serpent), effectively recreating the tensions roiling England under Henry IV. Chandler, who once worked for the crown as an interrogator and a spy, is on the outs with the new regime. The king, viewed by many as a usurper, has implemented a new law, under which heretics are to be publicly burned at the stake. Chandler narrowly escaped that fate after he interfered with efforts to incriminate Geoffrey Chaucer, and he gets embroiled in a whodunit after the wife of a wool merchant dies under suspicious circumstances. Though her fall from the roof of her home, where she was apparently visiting her private garden, appears to be an accident, her husband suspects foul play. Chandler’s investigation coincides with his efforts to secure the only existing copy of The Canterbury Tales from the king’s forces, who would destroy it. Clark’s use of period detail is unparalleled, and the plot remains taut and brisk til the end. Readers will hope this series has a lengthy run. (June)Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated that this was the fourth book in a series.