All that glitters is not gold in this medieval tale of poison, diamonds, and salt, set in the Pyrenees mountains at the end of the eleventh century. A sharp-tongued female troubadour and a loyal and observant lady's maid deal with murder, a revenant, a suspected fratricide, and some very bad weather.
In 1093, Beatriz de Farrera is a trobairitz (a female troubadour) and Anna de Romagny is a lady's maid and deaf after a childhood illness. They are in the entourage of Lady Philippa of Toulouse, who is travelling through the Pyrenees towards an unwanted marriage to the king of Aragon. Snow and murder hold up their journey, and Beatriz is tasked with finding the murderer.
Beatriz wants to achieve fame as a trobairitz, but murder keeps getting in her way. 'I'm a musician, not a sheriff ' she complains. Moving through castles, abbeys, and a salt mine, Beatriz and Anna deal with a zealous abbot, a lascivious lord, and a lost boy.
The gripping new medieval mystery set in France and Spain, from award-winning novelist, Tracey Warr, whose previous work gained a Literature Wales Writer's Bursary and an Author's Foundation Award.
For fans of Bernard Cornwell, Ellis Peters, Cassandra Clark, Elizabeth Chadwick, and Jean Gill.