Reviews of Cora
Harrison's My Lady Judge, the first Burren mystery
Published by Pan Macmillan
May 2007
(Click
here for reviews of Michaelmas Tribute, the second Burren mystery)
Introducing a wonderful new heroine, judge and investigator Mara,
and an enchanting Tudor mystery series
The
Burren on the western seaboard of Ireland was then, in the year of
1509, as it is now, a land of stony fields and swirling mountain
terraces. The people of the kingdom lived peacefully by the
ancient Brehon laws of their forebears.
On the first eve of May hundreds of people from the Burren climbed
the gouged-out limestone terraces of Mullaghmore Mountain to
celebrate the great May Day festival, lighting a bonfire and
singing and dancing through the night, then returning through the
grey dawn to the safety of their homes.
But one man did not come back down the steeply spiralled path.
His body lay exposed to the ravens and wolves on the bare,
lonely mountain for two nights . . . and no one spoke of him, or
told what they had seen.
And when Mara, a woman appointed by King Turlough Don O’Brien
to be judge and lawgiver to the stony kingdom, came to
investigate, she was met with a wall of silence.
Kingston Observer
Massachusetts, USA. December 2007
My Lady Judge,
A Mystery of Medieval
Ireland by Cora Harrison, St. Martin’s
Minotaur, mystery, 320 pp., $$24.95
If you are in the mood for a quick trip to Ireland in a
time machine and you love solving a great mystery with
multiple suspects this is the book for you! "The Burren" is a
115 square mile area in the Northwest corner of County Clare,
south of Galway in the province of Munster. It is 1509 and the
Rule of Law is that of the Brehon or, in English, the Judge.
Mara as the Brehon of The Burren is an intriguing divorced
woman who not only dispenses justice on "judgment day", but
runs a household, tends a lovely garden and sch ools six
rambunctious boys who would-be lawyers in the ancient laws
that have governed the land of the Celts beyond memory.
Mara as judge must discern the truth of any case that comes
before her in order to dispense appropriate judgments. The
intricacy of the law she interprets adds to the suspense level
of the story. Was this a murder most foul? If it was who did
it? Was the victim partly responsible for his own untimely
end? How pure was the motive of the perpetrator? What will the
sentence be if the killer is found?
The setting, plot and characters are beautifully crafted.
The prose is skilful and suspension of disbelief is a cinch.
This book is the first in a series planned by the author and
her first adult fiction. I, for one, can’t wait to read the
next and the next and the next.
Review by Alice Hawrilenko.
Irish American News
Irish books in review, by Frank West November 2007
The Irish word “brehon” refers to an
ancient Irish legal system in use until the Cromwellian
invasions of the 1600s. The Brehon system was marked by
fairness, humanity, and mercy; unlike the English system that
would hang a man who had stolen a loaf of bread. The word also
refers to a person who was a Brehon. Brehons were highly
respected for their uprightness and impartiality. A Brehon
combined the office of judge, prosecutor and states attorney.
The Brehon was a person with great legal knowledge and was a
trusted advisor to the king.
This novel is about Mara, who was a
Brehon. She is the central focus of this book and is unusual
in that she is a female Brehon. She is deeply respected and
loved in her community, and by the king too.
The setting is western Ireland. The time
period is the early 1500s. This is the period when the young
English King Henry VIII began to covet Ireland. His
colonialist policies were carried out by his ruthless daughter
Elizabeth I. And they were completed by the bloody and brutal
armies of Cromwell.
My Lady Judge: A Mystery of
Medieval Ireland by Cora Harrison. St. Martin’s
Minotaur, New York, 2007. ISBN : 310 pages; $24.95.
www.minotaurbooks.com
The book is a powerful mystery story. Why
powerful? The author, Cora Harrison, focuses the book on human
nature. Many things have changed since the middle ages, but
that hasn’t. The book is filled with suspense, and gives a
clear picture of life in Gaelic Ireland—before the English
armies came.
The Brehon had only the power to
relentlessly ask questions and the power of hunches. In a way
a Brehon was like a detective today.
I relished reading the Sister Fidelma
Mysteries, written by Peter Tremayne. But I believe My
Lady Judge is a more intriguing and better written book.
Tremayne says: “Sister Fidelma would be delighted with her
sleuthing ‘descendant.’”
Cora Harrison is the author of this
outstanding book. Who is she? Her picture shows a woman of
strong features and confident gaze. She seems to be about
fifty - fifty-five years of age.
She is widely known in Ireland for the
twenty-five historical novels for children she has published.
This is her first mystery novel—and I hope there will be many
more.
The short biography on the book’s jacket
says: “Cora Harrison taught primary school… for twenty-five
years before moving to Kilfenora, County Clare, to live on a
small farm…”
A young lawyer is killed, many people
pass by the mountainside where the corpse is in plain sight,
and no one tells the authorities. Why? Mara, the local Brehon,
must find out why.
She is answerable to the king for any
crime committed in her district. As her investigation
proceeds, she discovers several crimes! The king admires her
brilliance, tenacity and courage as she searches for the
truth.
The book is constantly suspenseful. All
the clues and facts are clearly presented, but I was
completely mystified, until the Brehon solved the case on the
last page.
The press release says this is “a
fascinating and original historic mystery… and sets the stage
for further [Brehon Mara] mysteries.” I certainly hope so. I
hope Brehon Mara will solve mysteries for many years.
These are some beautifully written, and
meaningful quotes that I think you’ll enjoy.
There are many beautiful descriptions of
nature in the book. But this one is used to show character
too. “The lake at the foot of the mountainside was very still,
its surface… reflecting the blues and pinks of the rainbow… In
front of the lake was a patch of sandy beach… There was one
tree: a strange tree, moulded by the western storm winds into
a stiff, awkward asymmetrical shape, and beneath that tree,
one hand on its bare trunk, was a small, thin figure. It was
[the local priest}. No doubt he had heard them struggling down
the mountainside [with the body] and had decided to wait under
the shade of the tree. And yet, thought Mara, how odd that he
continued to stand there, very straight, very rigid, almost
braced, making no move to approach them.”
The king and Mara are talking about their
merciful legal system. “Brehon law does not exact punishment,
just confession, repentance and compensation…”
“Well the Church has never really
accepted Brehon laws— St. Patrick did his best to change them
to his own liking and Rome has been trying to impose her own
laws ever since, especially the laws about ‘an eye for an eye,
a death for a death.’”
http://www.irishamericannews.com/col_ibks.htm November
review
Reviewing the evidence.com
Mara is Brehon of the Burren, appointed to this lofty post
by the King himself, following the death of her father some 18
years before. And, like her father, she not only carries out
the duties of Brehon, a judge and lawgiver in this western
Irish land, she also runs a law school and raises up young
folk to be lawyers and possibly Brehons themselves.
It is a good life, with serious responsibilities and
commensurate pleasures; she enjoys the respect of her
community, the support of friends, the freshness of youth
about her, and her own independence.
On the eve of Beltane, April 30 1509, Mara is to sit in
judgement on various pending cases and whatever else may come
up on the day. In preparation, she travels about the
community, gathering information and interviewing appellants,
accompanied by her assistant, Colman.
Colman is a problem for Mara; a recent graduate from her
training, he persuaded her to let him stay on for a year to
teach and broaden his experience, but he is not a likeable
fellow. Mara finds him arrogant and sly; her own consciousness
of having failed her responsibility to instill a more
fair-minded outlook in her student has made her keep trying
with him, but she is beginning to look forward to the end of
this final year.
And then, following the traditional Celtic festival of
Beltane, Colman turns up dead, stabbed in the neck, and it is
up to Mara to trace the killer before fear and suspicion fouls
her small community beyond repair.
I enjoyed reading this book. Many readers of historical
mystery will be immediately reminded of another female working
within the Brehon laws, Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma. And
there are certainly some similarities; although there are nine
centuries between the two women, it is a very traditional
society and not a great deal has changed. On the other hand,
the writing style is quite different and, truth be told, Mara
is a much more congenial person than Fidelma.
I liked watching Mara settling disputes and solving
problems aside from the main mystery, and I liked her social
environment. The story would not suit a person looking for a
thriller, it falls well into the realm of cozy, but many
characters are well drawn and the historical and cultural
information is, for the most part, nicely integrated into the
story, not slathered on as some authors unfortunately do.
Reviewed by Diana Sandberg, September 2007
September 16, 2007
Baltimore Sun: This enchanting historical mystery was first released in
the United Kingdom last year to rave reviews, which will only
be echoed here.
Harrison, a veteran novelist for children, steps into the
adult realm with a confident voice, a strong heroine in the
form of the eponymous Mara and an unusual-for-mystery realm in
the form of an enclosed medieval kingdom off the coast of
Ireland.
The bloodthirsty justice administered by the barbaric
English doesn't apply as Mara educates her young charges in
more civil applications of the law.
That is, until her trusted assistant Colman disappears and
is later found dead on the top of a mountain, and the
kingdom's seeming indifference reveals the victim's
duplicitous nature and the community's web of secrets.
Mara - who at 36 is both a grandmother and the object of
romantic intentions - sifts through truth and lies with a
combination of feminine intuition and well-reasoned deduction.
The old-fashioned appeal of Harrison's prose opens up a
new world while harkening back to the way writers like Ellis
Peters fashioned their historical mysteries.
The September 2007 Book Sense Picks
from the
American Booksellers Association
[Editor's note: Book Sense, the magazine
of the American Booksellers Association, has chosen Cora
Harrison's MY LADY
JUDGE to be among the twenty books picked for September as
'notable'.
The American
Booksellers Association
send a 'red box' of these highly recommended books every
month to their associate members.
As there are about two and half thousand books published every
month in the US and in Britain, this is a very exciting
nomination and promises to make the book a great success in
the USA!]
MY LADY JUDGE: A Mystery of Medieval Ireland, by Cora Harrison
(St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95, 9780312368364 / 0312368364)
In the barren windswept lands of Western Ireland, 1509 Irish
law was overseen by the Brehon, a wise, compassionate woman
who is judge and legal scholar for the King. This is a
terrific read.
Becky Milner, Vintage Books, Vancouver, WA
Editors' Choice
The Historical Novels Society publishes the
quarterly
Historical Novels Review magazine. The Historical Novels
Review aims to review every new work of historical fiction
released in the USA and the UK. Selected titles from Canada
and Australia are also reviewed, for a grand total of over 800
reviews per year. It is the only magazine of its kind, the
best and most complete guide to the latest historical fiction
in the world.
For each quarterly issue of the Historical Novels
Review, the editors will select a small number of titles they
feel exemplify the best in historical fiction. These novels,
which come highly recommended from our reviewers, have been
designated as Editors' Choice titles.
MY LADY JUDGE
Cora Harrison, Macmillan, 2007, £16.99, hb, 311pp,
9781405091909 / Minotaur, 2007, $24.95, hb, 368pp,
9780312368364
On the eve of the first of May, 1509, people from all over
the Burren, on the western seaboard of Ireland, climb the
mountain of Mullaghmore to celebrate the festival of Beltaine.
One man does not come down again. Colman, assistant to Mara,
Brehon of the Burren, has been murdered, and his employer must
search for his killer.
Although she has the support and indeed the love of King
Turlough Don O’Brien, Mara finds it a difficult task, with
many suspects and little help from the tight-knit local
community. Matters are especially complicated because some of
Mara’s young students seem to be implicated, and the murdered
man was both unpopular and secretive.
The character of Mara is taken from a real-life female
Brehon, or judge, from the 16th century whose case notes are
in the British Library. From these brief fragments, Cora
Harrison has woven a fascinating and beautifully evocative
mystery. The unconventional heroine is well drawn, and there
are plenty of plot twists to keep the action flowing.
My Lady Judge is an enthralling murder mystery with a
strong historical basis. It is sure to appeal to fans of the
detective genre and, in particular, to fans of Peter
Tremayne’s Sister Fidelma series.
Sara Wilson
Clues Unlimited
123 S. Eastbourne (Broadway Village at
Broadway and Country Club)
Tucson AZ
85716 e-mail
info@cluesunlimited.com
Historical Mysteries
Harrison, Cora.
My
Lady Judge (STM, 24.95) Sept.
A dazzling debut set in the sixteenth-century the
independent Celtic kingdom on the western seaboard of Ireland
featuring a female judge appointed by the king, who
investigates when her assistant is murdered during the May Day
festivities. Mara is a worthy descendent of Sister Fidelma and
the novel is exceedingly well-researched.
A Mystery Bookstore: The Poisoned Pen Retrospective Raves
Harrison, Cora. My Lady Judge (Macmillan $40 Signed).
This is Ireland before the cruel Tudor conquest when small
kingdoms like The Burren sturdily cared for their people. In
1509, the ancient Brehon laws still govern the stony fields
and mountain terraces (no less rocky today) under the
benevolent yet firm hand of Mara, appointed by King Turlough
Don O'Brien to wield both criminal and civil law, settling
disputes wisely.
It's trickier when the people of The Burren
go up the mountain terraces to celebrate May Day with a
bonfire and a night of carousing—and all but one man come
back…. The idea here is to cross Peter Tremayne's 7th Century
Brehon culture from the Sister Fidelma mysteries with a 16th
Century Irish version of Mma Ramotswe's modern Botswana cases.
You have to read it to get the full impact of its charm. I
predict a big US hit in Sept. so beat the rush.
Calgary Herald Review
My Lady Judge, by Cora Harrison
Ignore the slightly sucky title -- fans of historical crime
will love this great first novel in a series set in the Burren
region of Western Ireland in 1509.
Mara, a woman appointed judge of the Brehon people, must
learn who killed one of her former legal students, a man
widely loathed among her people. But no one is talking, and
before she finds the killer, she must discover their secrets.
This is a fascinating story of a little-known time and
place, written with great verve and humour.
The Globe and Mail review, Canada
Reviewed by Margaret Cannon, June 9, 2007
This is a terrific debut of a historical series that
promises something completely different. If the test of a good
historical is a solid plot with an intricate setting, My
Lady Judge is the real thing. I know nothing about the
area of Ireland known as The Burren, or the ancient set of
Irish laws known as Brehon, but Harrison seems to have
brought it all vividly to life.
According to Harrison, in the mid-16th century in the west
of Ireland, there was a barony of Burren, with a law school in
the castle of Cahermacnaghten. The barony was part of a
kingdom ruled by King Turlough Donn O'Brien. Brehon law was
based on a series of fines and contracts. The justices who
heard the cases and assigned the fines were known as Brehons,
and one of them was a woman named Mara.
The Burren is a land of stony slabs and, in the middle, a
mountain that, on special days, the locals climb. These
special days serve also as law days. Brehon Mara has a busy
day ahead. There's the school and its students to see to, and
the public hearings, attended by the king himself. Afterward,
she's planning a fine dinner. Things don't go quite as
smoothly as planned, but the day is finished as the
townspeople head up the mountain on their pilgrimage.
The next morning, someone is missing. There's a dead man on
the mountain. The whole town was there, but no one seems to
have seen or heard a thing. Brehon Mara has to uncover the
crime and then try the case.
This is something different in the historical mystery line,
and it works very well. The Lady Judge is definitely a series
to watch.
Evening Herald, Ireland
Lucille Redmond's Pageturner review,
13 May 2007
DISREGARD the dull title and
duller cover, this is a fabulous thriller. It's what you might
call a Brehon procedural, set in the last days of Gaelic
Ireland, just before the vicious Tudor land grab began
Investigator Mara is the only
female Brehon in Ireland, running a tiny law school in the
Burren and acting at the local resident magistrate.
It's the eve of Bealtaine, and
everyone is going up to light the festival bonfire and drink
and dance and court till dawn.
Everyone, that is, including
Mara's unpleasant young assistant, the ambitious Colman. But
Colman isn't what he seems: he has a thriving sideline that
Mara doesn't know about...
Cora Harrison has been writing
children's books for years. This is her first foray into adult
thrillers, and she's on to a winner.
The book is flawed - the writer
needs a great story editor to help her to sharpen her
plotting, up the tension, move in a good subplot, cut the
number of similar characters.
But this charming book could be
the start of a million-selling series. Harrison - when she
restrains her didactic impulses - tells a rattling story, and
her gentle, incisively intelligent judge is a character well
capable of gathering a fan following.
Lucille Redmond's Pageturner
reviews are sponsored by Dubray Books,
Irish-owned bookstores in Dublin.
"I read and much
enjoyed My Lady Judge.
As the first of the Burren mysteries, it sets the
scene with competence and skill. Cora Harrison is the most
companionable and sensitive of teachers and, without being aware
of it, I learned a great deal about Brehon law and the society
within which it operated. A legal system based on compensation for
the victim rather than punishment for the offender seems to have a
great deal going for it.
The character of Mara, the Brehon judge, is
beautifully drawn. She is a generous-hearted, wise and humane
woman, aware of her shortcomings and with the genuine desire to
overcome them. She will make so many friends, all of whom will
look forward to each new mystery with keen anticipation.
I wish Cora Harrison success with the series."
-- Alys Clare, author
of the Hawkenlye Mysteries
Reviews of German edition:
Durchschnittliche Kundenbewertung:
Schreiben Sie eine Online-Rezension und teilen Sie Ihre
Meinung anderen Kunden mit.
Mord auf der grünen Insel, 9. Juni 2007
Von
Lilian Grobis "liliangrobis" (Berlin) - alle meine
Rezensionen ansehen
Irland im Jahre 1509: Macha ist Richterin im Königreich
Thomond in Irland. Sie übt ihr Amt gerecht und milde aus,
deshalb ist sie bei allen sehr beliebt. Anders ihr Assistent
Coleman - die Leute in der Gemeinde meiden ihn. Macha sorgt
sich deshalb, schließlich hat sie dem jungen Mann die Stelle
angeboten. Doch sie tröstet sich damit, dass die Position nur
auf ein Jahr befristet ist. Nach dem Bealtainefest ist Macha
den unbeliebten Assistenten jedoch früher los, als es ihr
recht ist. Coleman wird nämlich erstochen aufgefunden. Schnell
wird der Richterin klar, dass es viel zu viele Menschen gibt,
die ein Motiv für den Mord hatten...
Cora Harrison hat mit Macha eine liebenswerte Figur
erschaffen. Wie von meiner Vorrezensentin bereits geschrieben,
drängt sich der Verdacht auf, dass es sich hier um eine
Fidelma-Kopie handeln könnte. Doch zum Glück beschränken sich
die Gemeinsamkeiten auf Irland und die Gerechtigkeitsliebe,
die den beiden Charakteren innewohnt. Ein schöner Fall für den
Auftakt, ich freue mich schon auf den nächsten Band mit der
klugen, sympathischen Richterin: Das Gesetz des Blutes.
War diese Rezension für Sie hilfreich?
4 von 4 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Eine angenehme Ergänzung zu "Sister Fidelma", 22. Januar
2007
Von
philocrima "philocrima" (Baden-Württemberg) - alle meine
Rezensionen ansehen
Zuerst war ich ja ein wenig mißtrauisch, ob da jemand im
Fidelma-Fahrwasser fährt, aber nach dem Lesen (auf deutsch,
was ich sonst bei englischen Büchern vermeide, das Buch aber
spontan gekauft hatte) breitet sich ein schönes Gefühl der
Erwartung auf weitere Bücher mit Richterin Macha aus. Die
Figuren werden klar umrissen, Charakter und Aussehen bildlich
gemacht, die Landschaft ist fast "zum Riechen", Dialoge und
Beschreibungen wechseln in guter Folge und eine
nachvollziehbare Logik bei der Entwicklung der Geschichte
erfreut. Empfehlenswert!
War diese Rezension für Sie hilfreich? (Rezension
unzumutbar?) (Rezension unzumutbar?)
Cora Harrison's United States
publisher, St Martin's Press, New York, writes:
More fantastic news for Cora Harrison's stunning debut
novel MY LADY JUDGE, which
we are publishing in October 2007:
"In MY LADY JUDGE Cora Harrison has given us a
lovely, balanced blend of historical detail and good story
telling. This book is appealing in every way: a likeable
protagonist, a clever mystery, and a richly textured rendering of
sixteenth-century Ireland with its fascinating legal system.
"
--Brenda Rickman Vantrease, author of
The Mercy Seller and The Illuminator
Previous Praise:
"An excellent historical novel with a most
original leading character Cora Harrison has wonderfully recreated
the Celtic culture of Ireland in its mysterious twilight at the
end of the Middle Ages. A true Celtic feast with a most
sympathetic and believable leading character, Mara, a judge, who
enters the mysterious world of her country to bring a just
solution to a compelling mystery."
-- P. C. Doherty, author of
The Assassin of Isis
"Sister Fidelma would be delighted with her
sleuthing `descendant’ - a new female Brehon named Mara.
Mara solves her cases under the ancient Irish laws in 16th Century
Munster, nine centuries after Fidelma held legal sway there. Well
researched and written."
– Peter Tremayne author of
The
Sister Fidelma Mysteries
