At the start of Gordon's winning sixth medieval mystery (after 2004's An Antic Disposition
), series hero Theo and his wife, Claudia, both members of the Fool's Guild, visit Cistercian Abbot Folc—previously a troubadour known as Folquet—to solicit his help preserving the guild from enemies in the church. But that night, someone murders one of Folc's monks and leaves a threatening message for the abbot next to the body. When Folc demands that Theo find the man responsible, Theo and Claudia's quest takes them deep into the recesses of domestic and religious life in 13th-century France. At the center of the mystery lies a haunting song, which implores "Sweet Lady Lark, why will you not fly?" To discover who's threatening Folc, Theo and Claudia must identify the Lark. While Gordon makes confusing and distracting shifts in first-person point-of-view between Theo and Claudia, the husband-and-wife jesters are charming, the story behind the murder unpredictable yet entirely believable. (May)
