Valley of the Shadow (Sister Fidelma Mysteries) - Softcover

Peter Tremayne is the fiction pseudonym for Peter Berresford Ellis, the most prominent authority on the ancient Celts. As Tremayne, he is the author of sevenbooks featuring Sister Fidelma, including Emlock at Vespersand The Spider's Web. He lives in London.

By her sixth outing, seventh-century sleuth Sister Fidelma (The Spider's Web, 1999, etc.) has withdrawn from her religious house to represent her brother, the King of Muman, and the bishop of Imleach when mountain chieftain Laisre invites negotiations for a Christian church in his Druidic stronghold. On the threshold of Laisre's remote valley she and her escort, Brother Eadulf, stumble across 33 ritually slain bodies. Strangely, Laisre prevents Fidelma, a credentialed Brehon investigator, from pursuing inquiries. At the same time, she learns that Laisre's advisers, powerful sister Orla and Druid leader Murgal, did not approve his invitation to Christianity and are hostile to his plan and to all outsiders. Then why is Brother Solin, secretary to the bishop of Imleach's northern rival, welcome in this hidden valley? No sooner do Fidelma and Eadulf realize the political significance of his presence than Solin is murdered and Fidelma accused. Can Roman Eadulf learn enough about Celtic law to exonerate Fidelma? Are the ritual slaughter and Solin's murder linked? Is there a traitor on the inside? Before Fidelma can part personal motives enmeshed in the political, she has to cut through a fabulous swirl of mysterious outsiders, secret meetings, disguised identities, and more deaths. When her acute observations and logical distinctions aren't enough, Fidelma's capacity for bluff saves the day and her country. Tremaynes discriminating sense of historydistinguishing ever-finer conflicts between Druids and Christians, Roman and Celtic Christians, northern and southern Celtscreates an equally complex mystery for history-mad readers with eyes as sharp as Fidelma's. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.