Ariana Franklin’s The Death Maze is the excellent second novel in the “Adelia Aguilar” historical detective series.  The first, The Mistress of the Art of Death, was an exciting and fascinating journey into the medieval world of Henry II, and its sequel continues in the same vein. Adelia Aguilar is still Henry II’s secret weapon, a woman who can find the truth by interpreting the marks that death leaves on a body.  She has changed, though, and her new life and family make the risks she must take in her search both more frightening and more understandable.

Adelia is no longer the complete outsider she was in the first book.  Although her career as a doctor can still place her in jeopardy, she has a home, friends, and a child to tie her to her new home in England. Her focused and occasionally crabby nature will be familiar to readers of the first book, and she has lost none of her intelligence or her desire to heal and understand the world around her. She has carved a quiet life out in the fens and seeks to raise her daughter in peace and surrounded by her friends. Adelia is not allowed to languish long in the countryside, though, for soon the newly appointed Bishop of St Albans is calling on her to investigate a death that could destroy the fragile peace that Henry has created.

The body belongs to Rosamund Clifford, the King’s mistress, and the rumour spiralling out into the countryside is that Henry’s Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was behind her tortured death by poisoning. Rosamund has been manipulated into open defiance of Eleanor, and her body is found strangely posed, hand gripped around a pen to write another vicious letter to the Queen.  It becomes immediately apparent that the circumstances leading to her death are complicated indeed. Whatever the reason behind the killing, it is up to Adelia to interpret the mechanics of it and thus lead her companions to the killer. Unless Adelia and the Bishop can discover what happened to Rosamund, Henry’s kingdom will be torn apart in a vicious civil war.

One of the strongest elements of the novel is Franklin’s detailed description of daily life.  Bits that may be glossed over in other  books, such as garde-robes, nursing babies, and the life of nuns in a convent are fascinating to Adelia, in her role as outsider and investigator, and thus are conveyed with curiosity and fascination to the reader. Franklin’s sure touch extends to Eleanor and Henry II.  Both of these characters exist as complete people, not just historical figures, and Henry is especially enthralling. There is a wealth of historical information on each page, even non-essential characters are fleshed out, and the towns themselves are described with such lively detail that they are minor characters all on their own.

The Maze of Death is a quick and engrossing read.  The politics, murder, and personal ambitions described in the novel keep the mystery moving and Adelia searching for clues.  It stands on its own, but The Mistress of Death is worth reading as well, and the character development between the two books is well thought out and written. Hopefully, Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar will be solving mysteries and speaking for dead for many more books.

Bookmark to