A review of My Lady Judge by Cora Harrison

 

This novel is a sleeper. The Irish author, Cora Harrison, is a former primary school teacher who has written a large number of books for children. Back in 2007, she  changed her spots and produced an adult historical mystery novel set on the wild gray coast of western Ireland in the year 1509. Her heroine is an intriguing and assertive judge named Mara who has been appointed by the King of the area to rule on all activity (from marriage to murder) in accordance with the ancient Celtic traditions. Harrison has given Mara a love of plant and animal life, a sensitivity to  the physical world around her, a young daughter from a marriage that has ended in a divorce, a semi-romance with the King who appointed her, and finally the position as head mistress of a school that teaches young boys how to enter the legal profession.   

 

Each chapter of this “mystery of Medieval Ireland” begins with a listing of a type of law in the ancient canons such as personal worth, marriage, inheritance, thievery, or assault. The development then explores Mara (the judge’s) actions as she deals with the implications and intricacies of that set of laws. This creates a slow start as the reader has to absorb a certain amount of ancient Irish history, but the pace speeds up when one of Mara’s top students is murdered during the celebration of an important community May Day ritual.

 

A murder investigation quickly gets under way and Mara finds herself under pressure to find the culprit. Ultimately, what appears to be her orderly intellectual search to find the killer by determining the opportunity and motivation for the death, puts her into grave personal danger. This, along with a series of twists at the end, kept me wanting to see more of this woman. A quick internet search has revealed several more books by Harrison featuring Mara in what is called “the Burren Mysteries Series.” I look forward to sampling at least a few of them in the future.

 

This isn’t on the list of great books of the early 21^st century, but I give it a 4 out of 5 because the leading character is appealing, the mystery is absorbing and full of twists, and it explores a fascinating corner of the ancient world and the often strange laws that govern its inhabitants.    

 

Jdy 10/26/2023