The Unexpected Ally

Gareth & Gwen Medieval Mysteries #8

by Sarah Woodbury

March 1147. Assassination, espionage, betrayal. King Owain has ridden east to confront King Madog of Powys with the attempt on the life of his son. Rhys, now abbot of St. Kentigern's monastery, hopes for peace and calls both Madog and Owain to the negotiating table. Peace, however, is the last thing on Madog's mind. Recalcitrant, righteous, and angry, he sees King Owain's recent weakness as his opportunity and knows that Owain's own barons are circling like wolves, waiting for the chance to overthrow him.

With the throne of Gwynedd in the balance, Abbot Rhys is desperate to broker a deal. And when the body of a royal spy is found within hours of King Owain's arrival at St. Asaph's, it is up to Gareth and Gwen to find the killer before the wrong man is hanged--and a country lost.

The Unexpected Ally is the eighth Gareth & Gwen Medieval Mystery.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Medieval, Historical Mystery, Fiction

350 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2022

About the author

With over a million books sold to date, Sarah Woodbury is the author of more than forty novels, all set in medieval Wales. Although an anthropologist by training, and then a full-time homeschooling mom for twenty years, she began writing fiction when the stories in her head overflowed and demanded that she let them out. While her ancestry is Welsh, she only visited Wales for the first time at university. She has been in love with the country, language, and people ever since. She even convinced her husband to give all four of their children Welsh names.

Sarah is a member of the Historical Authors Fiction Cooperative (HFAC), the Historical Novel Society, and Novelists, Inc. (NINC).


She makes her home in Oregon.

Reviews

[Bron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This follows on almost immediately from the previous book The Renegade Merchant, only a couple of weeks have passed since Gwen and Gareth were in Shrewsbury investigating the couple who had been impersonating them, and getting caught by slave takers. You really need this background to follow the current story. Gareth is still suffering from the wounds he got in Shrewsbury, but they have had to travel with King Owain's retinue to St Asaph for a peace conference. Needless to say a body soon turns up, and vanishes, and then is found again. Three dodgy monks do their best to muddy the waters too. Talking about mud, expect typical Welsh weather throughout the novel. There's theft, treachery, arson and slander but Gwen keeps a cool head.

[Lora Shouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a fan of historical fiction, and of course a fan of mysteries (because how can you not be a fan of good mysteries?), I have loved The Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mysteries from the first book. But it has just now occurred to me how closely bound together by the history of their time and place (mid-twelfth-century Wales) all the books in the series are.

Gareth is the captain of Prince Hywel of Gwynedd’s telulu (the group of knights which constitute his personal guard), and Gwen is his wife. This is long before there were private – or even public – investigators to determine who was responsible for murders, and before most of the modern techniques of forensic investigation had been discovered. However, Gwen, who grew up with Hywel and has in consequence been spying for him for a long time, and her husband are dedicated and careful observers and can often pick out minute clues that other people would not notice.

This book carries on with the overarching plot that the series has followed almost since the beginning; the continuing attempts by other people and other kingdoms to destroy King Owain, Hywel’s father, and take over his kingdom. The most persistent of these has been King Owain’s younger brother, Cadwalladr, who has been involved in all sorts of murders, thefts, and other forms of double-dealing for years.

In The Unexpected Ally, King Owain is on his way to exact vengeance on King Madog for the attempt on Hywel’s life (this occurred in an earlier book). He can’t punish Cadwalladr for the death of his oldest son, Rhun, because Cadwalladr has fled the country. Hence Cadwalladr doesn’t appear in this book directly, although his activities have earned him frequent mentions. But King Owain’s plans are interrupted by Abbot Rhys of St. Kentigern’s monastery, an old friend of Gareth and Gwen. He has invited King Owain and King Madog to a peace conference at the monastery. King Owain isn’t much in the mood for peacemaking, and the discovery of the murdered body of another of Prince Hywel’s spies in the water trough next to the cow barn doesn’t help matters.

A complicated plot follows that includes the theft of the body before the two investigators can examine it closely, church thefts and other thefts, mysterious other people, another murder, and some people right there at the monastery who turn out to be not who they claimed to be.

And the person who defuses the situation and prevents the war between the two countries is a complete surprise.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gareth and Gwen are at St. Kentigern’s monastery where Prior Rhys, now Abbot Rhys, comes to them because - wait for it - a body has been found. It is Erik, the half Welsh, half Danish spy who was working for Prince Hywel. While bringing the body back in a cart, Gareth and Brother Ben are attacked by a group of men and Erik’s body taken. Gareth is still recovering from the wounds he sustained while in Shrewsbury the prior week, so he was unable to give a defense. They are attacked the monastery for King Owain and King Madog to resolve their issues peacefully and not go to war. How will things go?

[PR · Rating 5 out of 5]

NEXT!!!

Great plotting, story to move the saga along, fine writing. Still don't understand all the politics but more than I did the previous 7 books...so I feel good about that! A bit less suspenseful than the previous couple books and that's a bit of a relief for a reader who gets nervous when the events around the next corner are shocking or unexpected! Keep reading, fans. Always worth it...on to number 9.

[Nance Roepke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I get more and more caught up in the lives of the characters and having Madog and Owain in the story was a great addition. I'm either liking the series more or becoming more mellow as my ratings have gone up. But I don't think I will ever be able to go above 4.0 unless Woodbury and her editor learn some new words and don't keep repeating the same old ones over and over again, particularly when they seem too contemporary for the time period.

[Sandra Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twists & Turns

I found that this book had a lot of twist and turns and kept me guessing. The parts I find annoying about Sarah Woodbury's writing is her thing about describing the men characters having pursed lips. Like really, what is that about?

[Sian Iola Percival · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Number 8 and still always seem to be surprised by something in these stories, weather it be who committed the crime or the reason why. So glad I stared these books, well worth the read.

[Voirrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this back in March and forgot to add it.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable read.

[Vickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent mystery in the Gareth and Gwen series.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good installment in the story. I will be sad when this series ends.

[Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

My least favorite so far. There was a lot going on and way too many characters. I'm grateful that I'm listening because the names seemed more confusing.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting blend of real and fictional events. Love the change in characters.

[Alayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new mystery with many twists and turns which I found quite enthralling.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gareth and Gwen get better with each installment! In this newest novel Gareth and Gwen's family is growing as the tension is Wales is growing. A half Welsh, half Danish spy is found dead just before King Owain is to confront King Madog about an attempted assassination of his son. A sketchy prior, old friends and a mystery with more twists and turns than a medieval maze. With Gareth recovering from an injury from a previous adventure and Gwen pregnant, they need all the help they can get. But whom to trust?

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

These books are getting more like a slog as I go through - the historical detail is interesting, and Woodbury brings key figures of the time into the text in an interesting way, but the main characters remain bland and unengaging to me. I found the resolution to this mystery faintly ridiculous - I can't help thinking Woodbury would be better off without the genre trappings, writing straight historical fiction, then in the historical mystery genre. But, the tales of Wales still engage, and the Irish visitors are of great interest.

[Susanna Shipman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Gareth and Gwen mysteries. They have become old friends to me. Very well written.

I love the Gareth and Gwen mysteries. The characters have become old friends to me. Very well written and entertaining.

[Mary Munroe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gwen and Gareth's Eighth Mystery

An enjoyable mystery, notable much more for the interesting character development than for the history. The intrigue of the court provides additional tension and conflict.

[Kathi Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

good series

[Elis Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm always happier when I find a series like this after it's finished. Unfortunately, now I have to wait for the author to write the next installment!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may have been my second reading, but I don´t think so. Gwen and Gareth meet at a peace conference.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am gobbling up the ones of this series I have yet to read.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing mystery with some unexpected surprises... I like to be kept guessing.

[Kathy]

Great. Can't wait for nine