The Tarnished Chalice by Susannah Gregory

It has been a year since the events of the last Matthew Bartholemew book, and Matt has been desperately searching for Matilde, the woman he fell in love with, who left after her reputation was savaged after being seen entertaining Matthew in her house every day for weeks. Matthew was going to ask her to marry him despite the fact that he would be thrown out of college, unable to teach and penniless, but she left before he could declare his love.

In this year, he has gone to France to serve the King in his army and searched for Matilde. Now, he has one last chance to find her- Brother Michael has been summoned to Lincoln along with another Michaelhouse scholar named Suttone to be installed as Stallholders. The post comes with a stipend and since many stallholders live elsewhere than Lincoln, most appoint a deputy to carry out the duties inherent in the office, for which they recieve a small part of the money gleaned from holding the office.

Matthew has come along to speak to Matilde's former fianceé, a merchant named Spayne, who she was engaged to before she moved to Cambridge, but left. Matthew hopes that she has returned to the city and he can find her there, and he's anxious to go and do exactly that. But it is already dark and icy cold, and none of the others want to accompany him out into the darkness in a strange city. Even more disheartening is the fact that there has been a murder at the Gilbertine priory where they are to stay.

Neither Suttone nor Brother Michael wishes to stay in a place where murder has been committed, but they have little choice, with so many people coming to see the installation of the stallholders, the places where they can stay are limited. But Matthew does take the chance to go to where Merchant Spayne lives with his sister. Spayne isn't there, and there is a raucous party going on in the next house, which she assumes they are part of.

Although they were misdirected to the party when looking for Spayne, Matthew tells her that they are not part of the party, but are looking to speak with her brother. She tells him her brother is not in- recently, there was a court case between the two guilds of tradesmen, and the other group won, which is why they are celebrating. Her brother declined to hear the revelry of his rivals and betook himself elsewhere. But when one of the men at the party is poisoned, she is blamed for doing the poisoning, since years before she accidentally poisoned a woman with a decoction fatal to pregnant women.

Matthew is certain that she had nothing to do with the poisoning, and Michael is asked by the Bishop to look into the death in the house of the Gilbertines, who are already exciting some comment by being overly loud in their services and in their praise of Jesus. The Michaelhouse men find them irritating and deafening to be around, but as they probe deeper into the cases, and Matthew desperately searches for any clue to where Matilde, his lost love, may be living, his bookholder and guardian becomes convinced that the Bishop is actually an imp from Hell, meant to drag them all down there when he returns to his unholy master.

But is it devilish forces at work, or the more human ones of greed, lust and revenge? The discovery and recovery of a silver chalice that was part of a long-ago trial for theft makes a reappearance, along with a number of duplicates that some people seem willing to kill for. But as they are all identical, which is the real one, and which are the duplicates, and why were the duplicates made? Can Matthew and Michael find the reason for their existence and unravel this case with its roots in the past? And will Matthew ever find the woman he loves once again?

This book managed to be both clear and complicated. Clear, in that you understand what is currently going on, but complicated because most of what is happening in the now of the novel has ties to the past. Matthew is looking into Matilde's past to find the woman he loves, a search which has been fruitless this whole past year, and which seems destined to fail now. Both characters are also out of their comfort zone: in a different city, and without the authority to investigate that Brother Michael usually has in Cambridge. Until he is asked to investigate the deaths by the Bishop, his hands are tied.

Matthew, meanwhile is down to his last chance to find Matilde. He has promised Michael that if he cannot find her here, or find where she has gone, he will give up searching for her, because obviously, she does not wish to be found. This lends an extra piquancy to his questions. After a year, he is still desperately in love and cannot imagine life without her, but even he will soon be forced to face facts. Will he find a hint of where to look for her in the place where she used to live? But he isn't the only man who loved her, and Spayne still wants her. Will he withhold the information Matthew needs to see his rival fail?

This tale of love sought and old bitterness and revenge coming to fruition completely strings you along with every word. Before you know it, you are invested in the success of both characters, wanting them to succeed and wanting to know what really happened so long ago, and why people are dying now? Who is killing them, and what does it have to do with Matthew's love, Matilde? Right up until the end, you'll still be wanting to know, and the excitement of the chase is electric. Highly recommended.