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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780425219027
ISBN number: 042521902X
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: January 02, 2008
Publishing house: Berkley
Sale Popularity Level: 235350
Studio: Berkley
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Product Description:
Dame Frevisse of St. Frideswide's nunnery and wandering player Simon Joliffe are in London investigating the deaths of several noblemen who supposedly conspired with the French against England. Some of these nobles worked for the late Duke of Suffolk-and Frevisse fears that her cousin Alice, the Duke's widow, may also be targeted for assassination.
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Rated by buyers 
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Set in 1450, with England's war in Normandy lost and the unrest of Jack Cade's rebellion, THE TRAITOR'S TALE brings together the contemplative nun Dame Frevisse with the ex-actor Joliffe in a gripping historical mystery that explores the death of the Duke of Suffolk. Did he deliberately plot to let the war in France be lost? Who ordered his murder as he was going into exile?
Frevisse is summoned from her nunnery by a plea from her noble cousin, the widowed duchess of Suffolk. The once-actor now turned spy Joliffe is on a mission from his master the royal duke of York. The unlikely pair acting in their separate spheres are both needed to unravel the mystery. The nun Frevisse can not leave her cloister except by permission; the player Joliffe is not privy to all the clues. From formal gardens where great ladies drop hints among the flowers to desperate hand-to-hand combat in the streets of London, this novel offers great scope, plausible surmises and riveting entertainment.
The author has a gift for bringing medieval attitudes and actions to vivid life. It is left to the reader to make connections or see parallels to our own time. I confess it is my love for these characters, and in particular that of Joliffe, that keeps me coming back time after time to this series. Highly recommended.
Rated by buyers -
I adore the Player series featuring Joliffe, perhaps more than I enjoy the parent series where the character was very first introduced, so any Frevisse novel that features him makes me happy. This follows on from The Sempster's Tale, with Frevisse still carrying out the task asked of her by her cousin, the newly widowed Duchess of Suffolk. In this one, Joliffe is finally the spy we always knew he'd be and the political turmoil is greater than ever before. (And to the reviewer below who thinks this contradicts the Player series, note that the Frevisse novels are far ahead, time wise. This book is set in 1450 while the most recent Player novel was set in 1435). Geat book, I'm already hungering for the next!
Rated by buyers 
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I have enjoyed the Sister Frevisse series since the beginning, and you could tell that from my reviews of a couple of the previous volumes in the series. This one, however, marks the very first time I have found a book in this series barely worth finishing. Usually, the books in the series focus a great deal on Sister Frevisse's thoughts, on daily life in the cloister, on characters whom we meet and get to know well. This book, however, concentrates almost entirely on politics, and not at all on character.
I like the separate series with Joliffe as a travelling player, als the "A Play of..." books. And I have enjoyed the books in which Joliffe and Sister Frevisse have been together, because those books included the humorous side of Joliffe's personality, as well as his intelligence. In this volume, though, Joliffe is all spy, with only the most glancing references to his past as an actor, as if he has been a spy and nothing but a spy, for many years - which does not jibe with the rest of the books in this series, and certainly not with the books in Joliffe's own series. (For example, A Play of Dux Moraud (Joliffe Mysteries).) Frevisse, as well, is almost entirely out of the element we have most often seen her in, in the past. At the beginning of the book, she is sent on a mission outside the convent, and we have almost nothing at all of convent life after that. In fact, there are a few downright unbelievable moments, when she does return to the convent, where she pretends to be sick - and then says she'll stay in the guest house, so as to risk the guests getting sick rather than the other sisters - a more un-nunlike sentiment I can't imagine.
In fact, the personalities of all the characters have changed so much that when Frevisse, her cousin Alice, and Joliffe are talking together, one has to go back and count sentences to tell who is talking; they all sound exactly the same, talking bitterly and cynically about political intrigue and nothing else.
As those reviewers who enjoyed the book have provided descriptions of the plot, I'll leave it to them. I'll just say that if you wanted to know more about King Henry, about Somerset and York, about Jack Cade's Rebellion, then you'll get plenty of that, in lieu of any personalized plot involving characters we might feel as if we know personally.
In short, if you were reading this series mainly because you were interested in the English history parts, and wanted to know more about the rebellions, then you might find something worthwhile in this volume; if you were reading the series because you liked the character of Frevisse and the details of daily life and of her regular interactions with other well-drawn characters, you will find almost none of that here, and it will disappoint you as it did me. Again, this reflects that my interest in reading the whole series was in the details of Frevisse's life, and in the drawing of individual characters; many people enjoy the series for other reasons, and may well find this book still satisfactory.
Rated by buyers 
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With this book, Margaret Frazer moves from historical mystery to historical fiction. Set during the years before the War of the Roses, this novel teams up Dame Frevise, the nun, with Joliffe, the one-time actor. Lots of issues are left unsolved at the end and I can hardly wait for the sequel.
Rated by buyers -
The Traitor's Tale, 16th in the series of Dame Frevisse Medieval Mysteries, is set in the summer of 1450 as the Hundred Years War wound down, amid riots against King Henry VI, murders, political plots and the loss of English territory in France.
Dame Frevisse is called out of her cloister to assist her cousin, Lady Alice, recently widowed by the brutal murder of her husband, the Duke of Suffolk. Lady Alice however is in need of more than Frevisse's emotional and spiritual support--she also needs her skills in solving plots and mysteries. Several of her retainers are missing or murdered, and she fears for her young son. One of the missing is Burgate, her husband's secretary, and there are tales that the Duke of Suffolk wrote dangerous letters shortly before his murder that were entrusted to Burgate--but no one seems to know where he is.
Simon Joliffe, player and spy, crosses paths with Frevisse and Lady Alice's retainer Vaughn in pursuit of some similar information that may help or hinder his employer, the exiled Duke of York. Travels across the kingdom, riots, beheadings, stabbings, hidden parcels, and behind-the-scenes political machinations, all weave through this book like the fine-patterned satin on a Duke's doublet.
Armchair Interview says: Fans of historical fiction will also find much here to enjoy. And, the author has notes listing several sources for her "plots."
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