Bk.1 in series of Margaret Kerr, wife of Roger Sinclair, takes place in 13th century Scotland. Roger's frequent absences for business reasons began soon after their marriage of 2 years. Roger has now been absent for 5 months. Margaret asks his cousin Jack to see if he can discover if Roger remains in Edinburgh, where his last communication came from. Within 3 weeks Jack's body is returned in a shroud. Margaret determines to try and discover how Jack died, and also to find out if her husband is still in Edinburgh.
I really enjoyed reading about the 13th century period in Scotland history. The author is very descriptive with the telling of this tale.

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Candace Robb also writes the 14th Century English "Owen Archer" series which I enjoy. However, this "Margaret Kerr" series takes place in 13th Century Scotland. In this series, Robb has done an admirable job of creating an impressive number of characters whom I have no interest in or care to know more closely. The story is dragged out and uninteresting. Well, it was a bit interesting when Margaret decided to clean up her uncle's tavern, as it was dirty. For example, no one had replaced the rushes on the floor for several months. His excuse was his chambermaid left him to run away with her lover. This really upset his cook, who also loved her, especially when she eventually returns pregnant.

Anyway, this occurs after "Margaret Kerr" travels to Edinburgh to find her husband. In the two years she has been married to him, he only stayed with her a total of five months. In Edinburgh she finds evidence he has been, or is still, there and can't be bothered to communicate with her. Meanwhile the English have invaded Scotland and people are dying left and right, but a lot of the people dying were murdered by other Scots. Margaret should have stayed home.

On my mother's father's side, our ancestors left Scotland in the 19th Century to go live to Australia. Perhaps it was because of this series. :-)

I gave the book 1.5 stars because there were no vampires or zombies in it.

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