So, why would Sister Fidelma be asked by such high ranking people to sort this mess out? Some background information might help here. The King also imposed the condition that Sister Fidelma work together with Brother Eadulf of the Saxons. Abbess Hilda and King Oswy requested Sister Fidelma’s assistance to discover the murderer. Oswy, the King could see not just the disintegration of the synod, but also the possibility of this being used as a political power play to destroy his hard-earned kingdom.
She was well known for her oratory skills and the synod was nearly derailed at this point as rumours began to break out that it was a power play by the Rome delegation, or the attempt to make it look like one by the Columbra delegation. On the opening day of the synod, an Abbess on the Columbra side (Iona, Ireland, and other Celtic nations) is murdered. In this novel, the leaders of the Celtic Church of Ireland and the leaders of the Church of Rome meet in the land of the Saxons for a synod to clear up some points of contention.
Although Europe was becoming more universally Christian, there were conflicts between Rome and other factions. The mid 7th century was a time of many conflicts, both religious and political. ”No wild beasts are so cruel as the Christians in their dealings with each other.” –Ammianus Marcellinus, c. Can the solution to the mysteries avert such a conflict? More gruesome deaths follow and the friction among the clerics could end in civil war. However, the two are so unlike that their partnership is described as that of a wolf and a fox - but which is which? As an advocate of the Brehon Court, she is called on to investigate the murder with Brother Eadulf, of the Roman faction.
When the Abbess Etain, a leading speaker for the Celtic Church, is found murdered suspicion inevitably rests on the Roman faction.Īttending the Synod is Fidelma, of the community of St Brigid of Kildare. Conspirators plot an assassination, while mysterious, violent death stalks the shadowy cloisters of the Abbey of St Hilda. ABSOLUTION BY MURDER is the brilliant and evocative first novel in Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma series, bringing 7th-century Ireland vividly to life.Īs the leading churchmen and women gather at the Synod of Whitby in 664AD to debate the rival merits of the Celtic and Roman Churches, tempers begin to fray.
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