I don’t think of medieval author Alys Clare as writing horror, but this Aelf Fen mystery will have you reading with the lights on at night. I originally read and reviewed it in May, 2016. It is another good Halloween book.
THE NIGHT WANDERER, Alys Clare, Severn House, 2016, 9780727895202
In this seventh Aelf Fen mystery, apprentice healer Lassair, an 11th-century young woman from a Fen village, has just returned to Cambridge following a previous adventure. She is a student of Gurdyman, a beneficent magician who dislikes to be called a wizard. Soon a wealthy merchant is found murdered near the river, his throat ripped out as though by a huge, clawed animal. Evil seems to pervade the air as fear grips the town.
Gurdyman leaves the area, and Lassair and sheriff’s man Jack Chevestrier work together once again to solve the increasing numbers of gruesome murders that are terrorizing Cambridge. Even Aelf Fen is not a safe haven from the evil scourge.
Clare’s fans will enjoy this gripping story that combines a mystery with horror, fantasy, and romance. As Lassair and Jack’s attraction for each other becomes stronger, her old love, Rollo Guiscard, returns from Constantinople and re-enters the picture. The wizard Hrype comes to a life-changing decision, urged to it by Gurdyman. This novel stands alone, but new readers will want to go back to the earlier titles to fill in the characters’ back stories and get better acquainted with Aelf Fen.
