Chain of Evidence (Burren Mystery)
Harrison continues her delightful Burren Mystery series with an all-historical new puzzler set in the sixteenth-century west Irish kingdom of the Burren. When a clan leader is seemingly stampeded by a herd of cows, Brehon Mara, regional judge and magistrate in charge of law and order, must confirm the cause of death before a new chieftain can be confirmed. Suspicious after interviewing locals, one of whom recalled seeing a chain tied to the leg of the deceased that has since disappeared, Mara and her law students undertake a full-fledged investigation. With the leadership of the clan hanging in the balance, Mara’s investigation takes on additional significance and is steeped in ever increasing danger. Mara, like Peter Tremayne’s Sister Fidelma, showcases the uniquely enlightened position women occupied in the legal system of medieval Ireland while at the same time flexing her considerable powers of reasoning and deduction. --Margaret Flanagan