The Tavern in the Morning

Alys Clare, Author Minotaur Books $23.95 (230p) ISBN 978-0-312-26237-2

Adventurer Josse d'Acquin and the sage Abbess Helewise return in The Tavern in the Morning: A Hawkenlye Mystery, a fourth medieval historical from Alys Clare (Fortune Like the Moon), this time to investigate the mysterious poisoning (by wolf's bane) of a guest at an inn d'Acquin frequents regularly. Though the dialogue is unmistakably contemporary, Clare's rich descriptions brings the English countryside to life and the fast-talking duo make a charming pair of sleuths.

Featured Fiction Reviews

Anuradha Roy

The art of pottery looms large in Roy’s latest, a novel of small tragedies (after All the Lives We Never Lived). Narrator Sara, a lonely Indian student on scholarship at a damp Continue reading »

Oscar Hokeah

The Kiowa, Cherokee, and Mexican family members of a young man named Ever Geimausaddle tell stories that span from his infancy to his adulthood in this captivating debut. When Continue reading »

Mecca Jamilah Sullivan

Sullivan (the collection Blue Talk and Love) charms in her stunning debut novel about a Black girl’s coming-of-age. While growing up in gentrifying Harlem during the 1980s and Continue reading »

Morgan Talty

Talty’s smart and gritty debut, a linked collection, poignantly overlays a boy’s coming-of-age on the Penobscot reservation with a young man’s present-day struggles to overcome Continue reading »