In the Shadow of the Enemy, Tania Bayard
In the Shadow of the Enemy, Tania Bayard
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In the Shadow of the Enemy
A French Medieval Mystery

Author: Tania Bayard

Narrator: Steven Crossley

Unabridged: 9 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/10/2019

Synopsis

Scribe sleuth Christine de Pizan must discover who wants to kill the king in the second of this richly imagined historical mystery series set in fourteenth-century France.

Paris, 1393. A masquerade ball at the palace ends in tragedy, with four revelers burned to death. Was it an accident . . . or did someone deliberately hurl a flaming torch at the dancers? Convinced it was an act of murder and that the king himself was the real target, Queen Isabeau has asked Christine de Pizan to spend time at court in an attempt to uncover the identity of the would-be assassin.

With the king struck down by an illness no one can understand, Christine finds the palace to be a hotbed of rumor, suspicion, petty rivalries, and dark secrets: a place where no one can be trusted. Could the king's ambitious brother, the Duke of Orleans, be responsible for the deaths? One of his embittered uncles? Or could the killer lie even closer to home?

About Tania Bayard

Tania Bayard is a freelance writer and lecturer specializing in medieval art, culture, and horticulture. She has taught art history at Fordham, Rutgers, and Hofstra universities and is the author of a number of books, including A Medieval Home Companion: Housekeeping in the Fourteenth Century. Previously, she was the curator of the Biblical Garden at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City and assistant horticulturist at The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kathleen on February 17, 2019

Christine De Pizan was a real person and she really was patronized by Queen Isabeau. If you, like me, are shaky on France in the 14th century, you might find yourself periodically checking wikipedia while reading this interesting mystery set in the French court. There was a lot of intrigue- and Chri......more

Goodreads review by Helen on February 04, 2019

This book has received a Discovering Diamonds Review: Helen Hollick founder #DDRevs " I love it when real women from history are the stars in fiction in interesting new ways. "......more

Goodreads review by Anne on July 23, 2020

It was great to find an historical mystery set in another country - France , giving a different perspective on the politics , life and times in 1393 . This is not the first book in the series but in my view can be read as a standalone . Four French courtiers are set alight with a torch ......... the ma......more

Goodreads review by Melisende on January 05, 2019

Book 2 in the Christine de Pizan mysteries. For those unfamiliar with the period, Christine de Pizan was a court writer during the reign of Charles VI. She was indeed patronised by both the Queen, Isabeau of Bavaria, and the king's brother, Louis, Duke of Orleans. Her books of advice to princesses, p......more

Goodreads review by Nance Roepke on March 15, 2021

2.5. It is nice to have a mystery set in France instead of England or Ireland. The depiction of the Court and the town seemed realistic and well done. As I've said before about the first book, I wish that the Title Character hadn't been based on a real life person. That person seems much more intere......more

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