Winter Heart

FOR THEY THAT WORK WICKEDNESS...

One man has been kidnapped. Another has been murdered.

In the bleakest depths of winter, Frevisse finds her soul chilled with the heavy burdens of duty and responsibility. Even the warmth of charity is in short supply as the villagers of Prior Byfield turn against each in bloody feuds of greed and rage, weaving knots of treachery which even the clever Frevisse may find hard to unwind.

Award-winning author Margaret Frazer gathers shadows around the hearth to tell a tale of frigid winter and icy passion. Join Frevisse in her fervent prayers for a true peace of mind and body as she pits all her forceful will against the most cunning of evils. Fear for the lives which may be destroyed in unlocking the secrets of the winter heart...

PRAISE FOR THE SISTER FREVISSE SERIES

"This is a perfect mystery: It's flawless." ? Drood Review of Mystery

"Frazer's grasp of the society and tangled politics in England in the mid-1400s is masterful." ? Firsts, the Book Collector's Magazine

"Keeps readers turning the pages." ? Marina Oliver, Historical Novels Review

"Frazer's quiet yet intense medieval mysteries are so vividly and gracefully written you just float back in time..." ? BookNews from The Poisoned Pen

"Whether good or evil, her characters are vibrant and compelling. While we might like to believe that the prejudices of that era have passed into history, we are reminded that we are not so very different after all." ? Lorraine Gelly, Romantic Times Book Club

Auteur

Herodotus Award Winner ("Neither Pity, Love, Nor Fear")

Edgar Award-nominee (The Servant's Tale)
Edgar Award-nominee (The Prioress' Tale)
Minnesota Book Award nominee (The Bishop's Tale)
Minnesota Book Award nominee (The Reeve's Tale)

To begin with, 'Margaret Frazer' was two people, both interested in writing and in medieval England, one of them with modern murder mysteries already published, the other with file drawers, shelves, and notebooks full of research on England in the 1400s. They met in a historical recreationist group called the Society for Creative Anachronism and joined forces to write The Novice's Tale, the first in a history mystery series centered on a Benedictine nun, Dame Frevisse, of a small priory in Oxfordshire. Both character and setting were chosen for the challenge they presented ? a cloistered nun in a rural nunnery: how does one go about being involved in murders in that situation? -- and the chance to explore medieval life from a different perspective.

During their collaboration, the authors worked together by first laying out the general idea of a story. Then the 'Frazer' half of the team developed the plot and characters in detail and wrote the first draft. The 'Margaret' half then re-worked that into a second draft, the 'Frazer' half re-worked that (and it helped they lived five miles apart and couldn't hear what each said about the other during these stages!), and then they did the final draft together, never able to argue over it too long because by then there would be a deadline closing in. The collaboration worked well through six books and two award nominations ? an Edgar for The Servant's Tale and a Minnesota Book Award for The Bishop's Tale ? before the 'Margaret' half grew tired of the series and amicably returned to the 20th century, leaving the 'Frazer' half to continue the series, with an Edgar nomination for The Prioress' Tale.

I write stories set in medieval England because I greatly enjoy looking at the world from other perspectives than the 20th century. My brief college career was as an archaeology major with writing intended as a hobby, but with one thing and another, my interest came down to medieval England with writing as my primary activity, only rivaled by my love of research. But why medieval England, especially for someone who grew up without any interest in knights in shining armor and ladies fair? That's a tangled tale but the final steps were ...

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