Grave Goods by Arianna Franklin

Adelia Aguilar is a Mistress of the Arts of Death, an Italian-trained doctor who is skilled at finding out how people died by the marks and evidence left on their bodies or on their bones.

King Henry II is fighting a war against the Welsh at Glastonbury when he hears about a strange grave discovered in Glastonbury Abbey close to 20 years ago, after an Earthquake shook the land and brought down the Abbey and Cathedral. One of the monks there had a vision of a great burial train and two bodies being interred between a pair of pyramids in the Abbey Churchyard. The monk soon died, but he was convinced that what he saw was the burial of King Arthur and Queen Guinivere.

Henry has some excavation done, and lo and behold, two bodies are discovered, one very large, the other smaller and more slender. Everyone is convinced that these are the bones of Arthur and Guinievere, but Henry wishes to be sure and summons Adelia to him to make sure that the bones are at least somewhat genuine. He doesn't want them to be proclaimed to be Arthur and Guinievere and then turn out to be wrong.

Adelia is travelling with her friend Emma, a former nun at a convent who was kidnapped by a lord, wedded and bedded and is now the mother of his child. Her kidnapper-rapist husband is dead, and Emma wishes to ensure the patrimony of her son, so she is travelling to her husband's many holdings and bringing a German Champion to fight her battles to control her lands. As long as her champion wins, she will be seen to be in the right.

Adelia serves as her doctor, along with Doctor to her mercenary Roetger. But when a fight gone long leaves him victorious but badly wounded, Emma finds herself confessing an attraction to him. Their next stop will be at the estate where her former husband's mother lives, so Adelia feels safe leaving her and going to Henry- not that she is given a real choice in the matter.

But later, she finds that her friend never arrived, at least according to her mother-in-law. Now, as Adelia strives to discover whether the bones she found are actually that of Arthur and Guinevere, she must also discover what happened to her friend, Emma, her young son, and whether both of them are alive or dead. But both cases seem to have something to do with the nearby Abbey, and its head, Abbot Sigward, who is so good and saintly that no one could suspect him of anything untoward- or could they?

Barely saved from collapsing earth by the now Bishop Rowley Picot, Adelia rediscovers her love for him and even though their love is now forbidden by his job as Bishop, she finds herself willing to do anything to be with him, even have an otherwise forbidden relationship. But after she so cruelly rejected him before, does he love her enough to open himself up to pain again?

This is the third book starring Adelia Vesuvia Rachel Ortiz Aguilar, and it combines actual historical fact (bones being found at Glastonbury Abbey being claimed to be that of Arthur and Guinivere and deftly weaves a story around it. King Henry would love for the bones to be those of Arthur- he's fighting the Welsh and finding the actual bones of Arthur would make them lose hope for the fight. But the midsection of "Guinevere", including the hip bones, are missing, so Adelia can't even be sure that "Guinevere" is female!

Deftly interwoven with the first mystery is another. What happened to Emma Wolvercote, her son, and her Germanic Champion, Roetger? Wounded on her behalf, Roetger would have been unable to prevent Emma from being killed. But where are their bodies, and who attacked them and made them disappear? Did it have something to do with her mother-in-law, also Lady Wolvercote, and how can Adelia prove it if she did? Mansur and his lover, Gytha, the nurse to Adelia's daughter by Rowley also appear, along with her daughter Allie.

Constantly being pulled in three different directions, Adelia really shines in this book, being much less abrasive and outspoken in this book. Her near-death experience mellows her somewhat, and even though she confessed that she couldn't imagine being a woman who would die or abandon everything for the man she loves, she comes to realize that she could be that kind of woman for Rowley, and it completely changes her outlook. While she still remains the fiercely intelligent woman she has always been, just a little different in manner.

This was an excellent novel, but it ends before we find out if she is successful in leaving Henry II's service to live as Rowley's lover, and I wonder if he and she will be able to manage it, and if so, where they will live, since she feels odd when she isn't in the fens. I am looking forward to more stories about this character and from this writer, who also writes as Diana Norman. Highly Reommended.