The Wandering Arm

A pilgrimage in 1142 to Santiago de Compostela propels the fourth in Newman's atmospheric series of medieval mysteries (The Wandering Arm, 1995, etc.) featuring ex-novice Catherine LeVendeur and her Scots nobleman husband Edgar. Troubled after a stillbirth and two miscarriages, the pair heeds the advice of Edgar's former mentor, Peter Abelard, to pray for a child at the Spanish shrine, the third most important pilgrimage site in medieval Christendom. Their disparate traveling party includes Catherine's merchant father, Hubert, a Jewish convert to Christianity; Hubert's brother and partner, Eliazar; Eliazar's son, Solomon; a wealthy widow, Lady Griselle, and her servants; Mondete, a former whore; two traveling musicians; and four elderly knights. Others join along the way. When two knights are murdered, Catherine begins to investigate. More deaths occur before she links the murders to a past crime and, in a hair-raising finale in a hillside cave near Compostela, identifies the killer. The vibrant, often unexpected dynamics of Catherine's family give emotional punch to Newman's vivid depiction of medieval life as she captures the import of religious devotion, prejudice, class distinctions and the spread--and suspicion--of scholarship on a scenic pilgrimage route rife with verminous lodgings and thieves. In the end, Catherine's prayers are answered and her strength, character and intellectual curiosity continue to grow. (Aug.)