Rating: 
Summary: Best Catherine Book Yet?
Review: After reading this book, I am dying to get the next in the series on my nightstand. Sharan Newman's books are so engaging in their plots, well-crafted subplots, and details of medieval life that you almost hate to finish one. Her works are intelligently written and addictively interesting. Four stars, no question.
Rating:
Summary: Great historical mystery
Review: He was the youngest son of a Scottish lord, which meant he was destined for priesthood. She was the daughter of a French merchant. When Edgar met Catherine de Vendeur, love blossomed. Both were willing to risk everything and they married. They shared many adventures together. They were returning home from helping Catherine's sister escape a murder charge when they noticed someone trying to break into their Paris home. When the couple enters, they find a corpse garbed in the fashion of a Knights Templar.They have no idea who the victim is or how he gained entrance to their locked tight home. When the authorities remove the body, they suspect Edgar and Catherine killed the man. Other strangers break into their home. Meanwhile Catherine's insane cousin tries to attain proof to expose a family skeleton that would destroy Catherine and her relatives. Only their love for one another keeps the duo from total collapse under the weight of their problems. No one describes medieval Europe quite as well as Sharon Newman. Her works entertain and educate her audience. Followers of this long running series will enjoy seeing the reappearance of old friends, who retain their freshness after a too long absence. TO WEAR THE WHITE CLOAK occurs in the twelfth century, but has the depth to make readers feel they are there. The intriguing and often bewildering mystery augments the overall greatness of this wonderful historical mystery. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Great historical mystery
Review: He was the youngest son of a Scottish lord, which meant he was destined for priesthood. She was the daughter of a French merchant. When Edgar met Catherine de Vendeur, love blossomed. Both were willing to risk everything and they married. They shared many adventures together. They were returning home from helping Catherine's sister escape a murder charge when they noticed someone trying to break into their Paris home. When the couple enters, they find a corpse garbed in the fashion of a Knights Templar. They have no idea who the victim is or how he gained entrance to their locked tight home. When the authorities remove the body, they suspect Edgar and Catherine killed the man. Other strangers break into their home. Meanwhile Catherine's insane cousin tries to attain proof to expose a family skeleton that would destroy Catherine and her relatives. Only their love for one another keeps the duo from total collapse under the weight of their problems. No one describes medieval Europe quite as well as Sharon Newman. Her works entertain and educate her audience. Followers of this long running series will enjoy seeing the reappearance of old friends, who retain their freshness after a too long absence. TO WEAR THE WHITE CLOAK occurs in the twelfth century, but has the depth to make readers feel they are there. The intriguing and often bewildering mystery augments the overall greatness of this wonderful historical mystery. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Dead of Knight
Review: I couldn't wait for this latest installment of Sharan Newman's series featuring the clever and clumsy Catherine and her stalwart spouse Edgar, set in the 1140's, this time back in Paris. Just as with her previous novels, I was more than satisfied. I discovered Catherine and Edgar in "Cursed in the Blood" just after our return from Scotland and the north of England this summer, visiting castles of our ancestors dating from the 11th and 12th centuries, primarily. Newman has such a thorough grounding in the history of the time and yet she has the ability to bring her characters to life. I raced through all of her previous novels in the series, except for the next to last one--on order!--just prior to this one, "To Wear the White Cloak". In this latest story, Catherine and Edgar were shocked upon their return from what seems to have been a dangerous and difficult journey to Germany to find a very dead (and moldy!) Knight of the Temple locked inside her father's home. The well-educated twosome have to counter the suspicion that quickly falls on their family, as before, by solving the murder themselves. This is accomplished while they deal with the everyday issues of raising their family in health and safety, establishing themselves financially, and even struggling with moral issue of birth control. You will do yourself a favor if you begin reading Newman's books--go back and read the others--if you have an appreciation for this time period and for an excellent mystery. (Note to fans of Ellis Peters: finally, someone to (almost) fill her shoes)
Rating:
Summary: Dead of Knight
Review: I couldn't wait for this latest installment of Sharan Newman's series featuring the clever and clumsy Catherine and her stalwart spouse Edgar, set in the 1140's, this time back in Paris. Just as with her previous novels, I was more than satisfied. I discovered Catherine and Edgar in "Cursed in the Blood" just after our return from Scotland and the north of England this summer, visiting castles of our ancestors dating from the 11th and 12th centuries, primarily. Newman has such a thorough grounding in the history of the time and yet she has the ability to bring her characters to life. I raced through all of her previous novels in the series, except for the next to last one--on order!--just prior to this one, "To Wear the White Cloak". In this latest story, Catherine and Edgar were shocked upon their return from what seems to have been a dangerous and difficult journey to Germany to find a very dead (and moldy!) Knight of the Temple locked inside her father's home. The well-educated twosome have to counter the suspicion that quickly falls on their family, as before, by solving the murder themselves. This is accomplished while they deal with the everyday issues of raising their family in health and safety, establishing themselves financially, and even struggling with moral issue of birth control. You will do yourself a favor if you begin reading Newman's books--go back and read the others--if you have an appreciation for this time period and for an excellent mystery. (Note to fans of Ellis Peters: finally, someone to (almost) fill her shoes)
Rating:
Summary: another superb installment
Review: I'll freely admit that this is one of my all-time favorite mystery series. Sharan Newman has the gift of creating wonderfully memorable characters and placing them in a vividly realized setting. When I read her books, I feel myself walking through the streets of mid-twelfth-century Paris with Catherine and Edgar. This latest book is a superb addition to the series. Catherine, Edgar, and their family return to Paris from a long sojourn in Germany (chronicled in THE DIFFICULT SAINT) to find a dead body in their Paris house. Who was he? and how did his body come to be left in their house? The answers to these questions prove fascinating, as usual, while Newman continues to unfold the story of her major characters. This book, like the others in the series, is richly textured, not only in the historical details, but in the emotional lives of the characters. Newman is a fine historian, as always, but she's a stunning storyteller as well.
Rating:
Summary: another superb installment
Review: I'll freely admit that this is one of my all-time favorite mystery series. Sharan Newman has the gift of creating wonderfully memorable characters and placing them in a vividly realized setting. When I read her books, I feel myself walking through the streets of mid-twelfth-century Paris with Catherine and Edgar. This latest book is a superb addition to the series. Catherine, Edgar, and their family return to Paris from a long sojourn in Germany (chronicled in THE DIFFICULT SAINT) to find a dead body in their Paris house. Who was he? and how did his body come to be left in their house? The answers to these questions prove fascinating, as usual, while Newman continues to unfold the story of her major characters. This book, like the others in the series, is richly textured, not only in the historical details, but in the emotional lives of the characters. Newman is a fine historian, as always, but she's a stunning storyteller as well.
Rating:
Summary: Another wonderful addition to the series
Review: Newman just kepts improving with age. How she manages to come up with all these new settings, people, and situations is beyond me. Each book can stand on it's own, but I'm happy to have read them all in order to allow me to see how each character in the story has changed and matured.
I hope this series never ends!
Rating:
Summary: To Wear The White Cloak
Review: Paris in 1147 is pure mayhem. Men leaving for the holy land have converged on the city, bringing with them vagabonds and conmen smelling opportunities to gull and steal. There is also evidence that the doomsday cult, the eonisits, has arrived. Starvation seems to be rampant, and a group of ruffians is attacking the Jews. All in all not the homecoming that Catherine had hoped for! Catherine, Edgar and family have finally made it home from Germany. However upon entering their house, they find the dead and festering body of a man garbed as one of the Templars. Catherine and Edgar naturally report this finding to the Marshall of the Knight Templars; and so it is with great outrage that they discover that they are somehow under suspicion for either knowing who committed the murder, or else witholding some vital clue of the crime. Catherine resolves to solve the mystery. However other matters keep getting in the way. She has to deal with the unsettling relationship that seems to be growing between her Jewish cousin Solomon, and Edgar's sister, Margaret; someone keeps trying to break into their house; and to cap it all, Jehan, that somewhat mad and vengeful knight from previous novels, has returned and is causing all kinds of problems by spreading rumours about Catherine and her family's involvement with witchcraft and lapsed Judaism. Too many things are getting in the way of solving the mystery of the dead Templar! This series keeps getting better and better. The historical detail is wonderful, and the plot, while a seemingly simple one is padded with enough sub-plots to keep the reader's interest. A truly enjoyable read!
Rating:
Summary: travel back in time
Review: Sharan Newman's To Wear the White Cloak pulled me in and held my attention through the story so well that, when it ended, I wanted more. She portrayed a realistic family living in France in the time of the Crusades, with all their problems, and how they related to one another, in a way that my modern mind could embrace; yet the setting and events were authentic to the historical period. I remembered and mused over the characters' words and thoughts long after I closed the book.
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