This is a follow up to the author's historical murder mystery A Swarming of Bees, featuring Fridgyth the herb-wife gently sleuthing in the monastic community of both monks and nuns presided over by the historical Abbess Hild in 7th century Whitby. Like its predecessor, it is well written and engaging, though quite slow to get going, with the drama mostly packed into the last quarter or so, centring around murders committed for revenge as part of a blood feud, one of many such vendettas that scarred the lives of generations of many Anglo Saxons. Interestingly, I found out recently that this author has written several series of books for young adults, some set in the same time period, and this explains her fairly detailed descriptions of Anglo Saxon customs and life, that add educational colour to the plots. ( )