Hangman Blind by Cassandra Clark

Hildegard is a Cistercian nun wishing to start a daughter house to her own nunnery, one devoted to healing, teaching and caring for others. She has had a vision of her own house with her as the head, and her abbess granted that it was a true vision. So before her abbess can die, she sends Hildegard out into the world to find a suitable grange for her Abbey. But first she must ask permission from the Bishop at Meaux.

Having gotten that permission, Hildegard heads home to Hutton, where she intends to find Lord Roger, who has long shown charity to her and the other nuns, and ask him if he can find a property for her nunnery. But the trip is not without risk. Even with her habit, there is a good chance she could be attacked and die along the way. And signs of unrest are all over, including a row of gibbeted men in the forest, and the body of a slain messenger boy.

Wat Tyler has been spreading rebellion, and the country is up in arms. Hildegard is especially upset over the messenger boy's death, because he was so young. He did keep one secret, however. He was carrying a small phial with a piece of blood-stained cloth inside. It's a relic, but a most problematic one, since it could put the countryside up in arms. It's a relic of Wat Tyler- a piece of his banner, the Whyte Hart, and dipped in his blood.

Hildegard takes the phial and its contents and keeps them safe but hidden. She once more rides for Hutton, but before her arrival, she sees another curious thing- a woman and man riding on horses. But they stop, and the woman gets off her horse and into a litter for the last part of her arrival in Hutton, out of sight of the castle. Hildegard wonders why the woman had to change, but enters Hutton herself in the rain.

There, she meets her brother, Ulf, who is now Steward for Lord Roger. He assures her that Roger will certainly help her, but right now, he is distracted by his new bride, the lovely Melisen, who is as demanding as she is beautiful. Meanwhile, Roger's sister Sibylla is pregnant and about to give birth. Hildegard goes to help her, but the midwife easily delivers the babe with the help of a red-haired serving girl, then leaves.

When Roger learns the baby is a boy, he declares it his heir, even though his own son, Edwin, is the fruit of his own loins. Apparently, the two had a falling-out, and Edwin left to become a mercenary. Now Roger has given his patrimony away to a small baby, should anything happen to him.

Shortly after doing so, Roger is poisoned, though Hildegard manages to save his life by administering an antidote. But he convinces her and Ulf to let it seem like he had died so that they can catch the poisoner by his actions after he learns that he succeeded in killing Roger. They announce that Roger had died of the pestilence, and spirit him away to a nearby Abbey, filling his coffin with rocks and nailing it close because of the supposed pestilence.

But his death is not the first in the castle. The red-haired woman who attended the birth of the new baby is the next found dead, slain in the grain store. But why? What did she know that was so horrible that someone had to kill her for it? Hildegard suspects it may have had to do with the birth of Roger's new heir, but her attempts to track the midwife come to naught- the woman's next job takes her to a local mill. But the Miller's family has fled, and the mill has been fired. All they can find is the midwife's mule. Is she dead, or is she simply in hiding? Hildegard cannot be sure.

But when Melisen is kidnapped from the funeral cortege by William, Lord Roger's brother, Hildegard must sort out who wanted Roger dead and who would gain the most by his death? Is there any way of figuring out who tried to poison him, and why they wished him dead? Hildegard must solve the case if she ever wants some peace and a home place for her nuns and those who will follow and help her.

This is the first in a new mystery series, and it's set in England in the 14th century, shortly after Wat Tyler's rebellion. The peasants are grumbling about their lords, many looking for any excuse to overturn them all and seize the wealth and land the Lords possess. It's not usually a period covered in history, although P.C. Doherty did just that in "The Whyte Harte". While that book dealt with Tyler himself, this one is more incidental to the period.

This mystery is fairly twisty and obscure. I did figure out rather quickly that the newborn baby was not really Sibylla's, but was smuggled in by the midwife and "born" surprisingly quickly for a first-time mother. But I was intrigued and entranced to find out there was more to the deception than just this- I really did find it rather awesome and startling how many layers there were just to that bit of deception alone.

But what sort of turned me off was that the book wasn't all that fun or easy to read. The story was a sort of slog that took me a long time to get through, and the book isn't all that thick to begin with. There were also a lot of characters, and a multiplicity of suspects clogging things up. It's a braided story, because so many mysteries are presented and appear to tease us, going in and out of view, but it's a big, fat braid made up of many, many smaller braids, and I had to read very closely to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I did end up rather liking the story, and the characters, I certainly want to see both Hildegard and Ulf again- and given that this story is first in a series, I probably will. But I do hope the books get a little easier to read, because a series so packed with stuff is a little daunting, to say the least. But I'll give this one a cautious recommendation.