THE ENCHANTER’S FOREST
by Alys Clare
A knight, a nun and a mysterious forest dweller combine their talents to solve mysteries.
Abbess Helewise of Hawkenlye is deeply troubled when Florian of Southfrith claims to have found the bones of Merlin in a mystical forest. Because his discovery has diverted pilgrims from Hawkenlye, Helewise asks Sir Josse d’Acquin to prove that it is a hoax. The Domina of the forest people (the forest people consider the shrine an abomination) sends Josse’s former lover Joanna and their daughter Meggie to guide him on a trip to France, where Merlin’s actual grave is reputed to lie deep within the Brocéliande forest. The journey proves difficult and dangerous. Josse and Joanna, resuming their love affair, are stalked by a man who plots their deaths. Back in England, the discovery of Florian’s body, presumed murdered for the money he was carrying, ends Helewise’s immediate problem. Unable to ignore the murder, however, she sets her mind to solving it while consoling his beautiful, demanding widow. Josse finds his Christian faith shaken by the real power he feels from the sites of the old religion. In the course of helping Helewise solve the crime, he discovers some disturbing facts about his own background.
Clare’s latest fantasy set in the England of the 1100s (Heart of Ice, 2006, etc.) is better enjoyed as mystical history than detective fare.