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Llangynog Murders #7
The Bard and the Blood
What happens when economics and culture collide?
Sometime in the 500s AD, an Irish princess named Melangell fled her home and established a place of sanctuary in the Tanat Valley, protecting both the wildlife and the women who eventually joined her there. Impressed with her courage and commitment, Brochwel, a prince of Powys, granted her his protection, and Pennant Melangell remained a sanctuary for the next fifteen hundred years.
But the modern world tends to overlook traditions of the past when economic concerns arise. Bronwyn Cooper is horrified to learn that a hunting estate near St. Melangell’s plans to expand the shooting of local game birds, a prospect that would mean shattering the peace of the village, the church, and the counselling centre with an intrusive barrage of gunfire. It’s not just the carnage she frets about. She worries that fragile pilgrims who come to the centre for counselling would be harmed rather than helped if this came to pass, and on a personal level, she worries that the valley will cease to be a thin place, destroying the connection she has with what remains of Wales’ mystical past.
Bronwyn’s husband, DCI Will Cooper, is drawn into the conflict when the skeletal remains of a young woman are found on the estate’s grounds. She is quickly identified as a girl gone missing from a neighboring farm fourteen years earlier, but Will is just beginning an investigation into her disappearance when two more bodies turn up nearby. Multiple victims and multiple suspects have Will’s head spinning with confusion as he tries to unravel a complicated cold case he must work on his own.
Tensions rise and families are divided as the villagers choose sides in the conflict, their passions leading to animosity and even physical conflict. Solutions are elusive and no one wants to compromise as each side believes themselves in the right. Will Bronwyn have to sacrifice her family bonds in order to preserve the traditions that make St. Melangell’s what it is? It is an impossible choice, but one that is forced upon her in this latest novel in the Llangynog Murders series.
Sometime in the 500s AD, an Irish princess named Melangell fled her home and established a place of sanctuary in the Tanat Valley, protecting both the wildlife and the women who eventually joined her there. Impressed with her courage and commitment, Brochwel, a prince of Powys, granted her his protection, and Pennant Melangell remained a sanctuary for the next fifteen hundred years.
But the modern world tends to overlook traditions of the past when economic concerns arise. Bronwyn Cooper is horrified to learn that a hunting estate near St. Melangell’s plans to expand the shooting of local game birds, a prospect that would mean shattering the peace of the village, the church, and the counselling centre with an intrusive barrage of gunfire. It’s not just the carnage she frets about. She worries that fragile pilgrims who come to the centre for counselling would be harmed rather than helped if this came to pass, and on a personal level, she worries that the valley will cease to be a thin place, destroying the connection she has with what remains of Wales’ mystical past.
Bronwyn’s husband, DCI Will Cooper, is drawn into the conflict when the skeletal remains of a young woman are found on the estate’s grounds. She is quickly identified as a girl gone missing from a neighboring farm fourteen years earlier, but Will is just beginning an investigation into her disappearance when two more bodies turn up nearby. Multiple victims and multiple suspects have Will’s head spinning with confusion as he tries to unravel a complicated cold case he must work on his own.
Tensions rise and families are divided as the villagers choose sides in the conflict, their passions leading to animosity and even physical conflict. Solutions are elusive and no one wants to compromise as each side believes themselves in the right. Will Bronwyn have to sacrifice her family bonds in order to preserve the traditions that make St. Melangell’s what it is? It is an impossible choice, but one that is forced upon her in this latest novel in the Llangynog Murders series.
407 pages, Hardcover
Published October 14, 2023
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 24, 2023
Janet's latest book is very good just like the other 6. It keeps the reader guessing while having relatable characters. I loved it!
May 10, 2024
I enjoy the series a lot!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews