Scales of Retribution

Scales of Retribution (#178) follows Writ in Stone (see my post of 4/6/12 ) in Cora Harrison's wonderful mystery series about Mara, brehon of the Burren, in sixteenth century Ireland.  In Writ in Stone murder interfered with Mara's wedding to King Tourlough Donn O'Brien of the three western kingdoms of Burren, Thomond and Corcomroe since as brehon, she is the investigating magistrate charged with uncovering the truth and judging the proper retribution.  In Scales of Retribution, another violent death causes complications for Mara personally as she struggles to give birth to her child; it's the physician Turlough has arranged to attend her in his absence who has been murdered.

While the king is away fighting the Earl of Kildare who is determined to bring all of Ireland under his control for King Henry VIII of England, Mara and her child barely survive the ordeal of childbirth, thanks to the skill and quick thinking of Nuala, the murdered physician's daughter.  The nephew of Corcomroe's brehon who has been sent to help Mara with the murder investigation and with her law school as she recovers proves to be more of a hindrance than a help.  MacClancy immediately decides that Nuala is the murderer and does not investigate further, and he creates chaos in her well-ordered classroom.  Mara is not happy with the way things are going, and slowly fights her way back to controlling her own affairs, but it could cost her her life.

I am really enjoying this series and the new insights of clan life and law in Ireland before it was completely obliterated by the British.  Mara is very much her own person, as I'm sure Nuala will prove to be, in a world where the English and the Church scorn the education of women and their presence in the professions, and all crimes are dealt with in the harshest possible manner.  Even if you're a Tudor fan, you probably won't be rooting for them in this series!