Fortune like the Moon is a historical mystery by Alys Clare. Set during King Richard the Lionheart’s reign, the action mostly takes place at a fictional abbey named Hawkenlye for which the series is named. Josse a knight of the realm is sent by King Richard to discover the source of a gruesome murder. Josse teams up with Abbess Helewise to solve the murder.
The story is a straight forward mystery with little action, anachronistic language and a lot of snobbery of which only Helewise is properly repentant. It was good for a quick read, but the book wasn’t extremely memorable nor riveting. Once the mystery is solved, Clare goes on for nearly 100 pages to set up what happens to Josse…which, without spoiling it, is extremely predictable and could have been dealt with in a paragraph. At least then it wouldn’t have been boring.
Related posts: