I’d forgotten about Candace Robb for a bit, but after I read The Cross Legged Knight, I just had to read another one of the Kate Clifford Mysteries, another series by her.

A Murdered Peace is the third book in the Kate Clifford series and it deals heavily with characters from the first two books. Berend, Kate’s cook with a shady past, has come back with new wounds after disappearing for a while. So has Lady Margery, who is back in York as she hides from the vengeance of the newly crowned King Henry IV. When a spice seller is murdered and all signs point to Berend as the killer, Kate must investigate to protect someone that she considers a brother.

Helping Kate is Sir Elric, a knight who has feelings for her. If I remember correctly, this has been building up over the last two books, so it was interesting to see how Kate navigates these feelings, as she feels that she may not be able to fully trust him.

Other characters, apart from Kate’s household, include her mother and the beguines. In my review of the previous book, I mentioned the beguines being a new concept to me. Thankfully, in the span of time between that book and this one, the Medievalist podcast released an episode on beguines and I would highly recommend that if you’re interested in building your knowledge of that era.

Like her other books, A Murdered Peace is steeped in history and the politics of this time. In this book, a large part of the political chaos stems from King Henry IV’s unconventional way of taking the throne and the uprisings (namely, the Epiphany Uprising) that resulted from it. While it’s easy for historical context to become info-dumps that slow down the book, here, it was incorporated so skilfully that it actually raised the tension in the book for me, because I could see how high the stakes were for Kate, Berend, and Elric.

As usual, the mystery was great. It starts with one murder and ends up leading to more deaths, but the way Kate and Elric investigated and solved the case was very satisfying. Kate is a very savvy woman and I really liked the way she collected and processed information.

While nothing is going to beat the experience of reading a medieval mystery set in York while in York, this book has helped me to remember what it was like visiting the city. I highly recommend this for fans of medieval mysteries. If you’re new to Candace Robb and are trying to choose between a Kate Clifford mystery and an Owen Archer mystery, well there are fewer Kate Clifford books but somehow, I like this series more.