The Prioress’ Tale has been released for both the Kindle and the Nook. It can also be read on any iPad, Android, Windows PC, Mac, or Blackberry device using either the free Kindle Reading Apps or the free Nook Apps for those platforms. It will also be available through the iBookstore shortly, but Apple takes much longer to process new e-books than Amazon or B&N.

DARK CORRUPTION AND THE PENITENCE OF DEATH…

Under the harsh hand of its newly elected prioress, St. Frideswide’s has become a place of deadly sin. The corruption has grown subtly and slowly, but it has found fertile soil in the rage and greed of Domina Alys, who has turned the priory into a boarding house for her relatives, the Godfreys. Dame Frevisse is horrified to discover that the modest stores of the priory – desperately needed if the nuns are to survive the coming winter – are being completely consumed by the rapacious Godfrey clan.

But the Godfreys bring with them more immediate terrors: Torture. Madness. Kidnapping. Murder. The sanctuary of the cloister has been violated and even the holy rites of the nuns have been ripped apart.

Despite the growing crisis, Frevisse’s best efforts to save the nunnery from itself are met with scorn and torment as bitter hatreds and old rivalries turn nun against nun. Suspicion, paranoia, and despair clutch the cloister’s heart. If Frevisse cannot unlock the riddles of penitence for her prioress and for herself, then St. Frideswide’s may be no more…

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PRAISE FOR THE PRIORESS’S TALE

“When this series debuted, its publisher hailed Frazer as the logical successor to Ellis Peters… With a number of strong books already under her belt, Frazer may actually make her publisher’s dream come true.” – Star Tribune

“Often chastised for her disobedience and made to do penance, Sister Frevisse’s curious nature still wins out as she uses logic and her intelligence to sleuth with the best of them.” – Rendezvous

“Frazer is writing one of the most consistently excellent historical series in print today.” – Murder Ink

“Clearly, the setting is the star here, and Frazer is generous with her details of abbey life.” – Publishers Weekly

“Margaret Frazer continues her splendid series of medieval mysteries… She has a sure grasp of the realities of medieval life: Its careless cruelty, effortless hypocrisy – particularly in matters of religion – and its disregard for women who could wield influence only in the most indirect ways.” – MLB News

The Prioress’ Tale was the the first of the Dame Frevisse books that I wrote alone. My co-author and I had discussed rough ideas for the story, and I had shaped the plot and written a first draft of the first three or four chapters when she decided she was tired of medieval England and bowed out of the series, leaving the book (and the series) to me.

Since I always wrote the first draft of all our books by myself, there was no trouble in simply continuing onward. Or not much trouble, except the small one that through writing six books together, my co-author and I had developed not only a smooth modus operandi but a deep familiarity with what each of us preferred in a story. I knew what she would object to and want changed, and she knew the same about me. Now there was just me, with no one to change how I chose to tell the story and deal with the characters. It was all mine! But did I take that heady breath of freedom and run with it? Not quite. Not immediately.

I’m still amused to remember how, instead, I found myself all through the first draft continuously “looking over my shoulder,” second-guessing myself on what my co-author would have had to say about this or that or the other thing that I was doing. But of course she was not there, and I confess I eventually settled happily to entirely following my own desires regarding characters and plot, both in The Prioress’ Tale and all the books that follow it.

– Margaret