The Dragon of Handale by Cassandra Clark

And what is a wealthy merchant doing within the walls? The woman in charge seems venal and cruel. Without question, a mason, one of a group hired to do work for the abbey, has been brutally murdered.

There's a strange rumor of a vicious 'dragon' outside the priory walls.

Life there is harsh.Įverywhere she looks, Hildegard's sharp and inquiring mind sees suspicious activity. Handale is a place for penitents - in practice, a kind of prison for sinning nuns. However, once ensconced at Handale, Hildegard begins to wonder if there was a hidden agenda involved in sending her there. Her former prioress suggests that she stay a while at remote Handale Priory while she makes her decision. Hildegard of York is a former nun, clearly used to being in a position of authority, who's currently ambivalent about whether she should re-enter a convent or continue on in secular life. Clark introduces the characters and their backgrounds with smooth grace, 'catching up' the reader without ever giving you that 'info-dump' feeling. However, I was in the mood for a medieval mystery.

This was my first book by Cassandra Clark, and I had a bit of trepidation seeing that it was fifth in a series. The Dragon of Handale is the fourth novel in Cassandra Clark's acclaimed mystery series set in the 14th century. What is so valuable that it needs such protection? Has it anything to do with the mystery of the young man's death? And why have assassins been pursuing the King's courier across the savage moor land only to murder him at a lonely wayside tavern? Hildegard risks all dangers to seek out the truth. There she discovers a secret tower, locked and barred, with armed men on guard. Is it possible that the young man was killed by a dragon, as Hildegard's been told? Of course, Hildegard does not believe in dragons, and despite being warned against it, she goes for a walk in the woods. His wounds appear to be the ravages of claws, but larger than any animal Hildegard knows of. His body bears deep gashes from neck to groin. While walking about the grounds, Hildegard discovers the corpse of a young man in the morgue. Used as a house of correction for sinning nuns, it lies in the north of the county in the middle of a vast wood and is run by the ambiguous Abbess Basilda and her close group of hard-faced acolytes. Still unsure whether she will rejoin the Order, the Prioress suggests that a visit to Handale Priory might help provide some clarity. Hildegard, no longer a member of the Cistercian order of nuns, has returned to the priory after more than a year from her pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

The Dragon of Handale by Cassandra Clark