Cassandra Reilly, the Irish-American translator and amateur sleuth, shares a flat in London with her long-time friend, retired bassoonist Nicky Gibbons. Their lives are disrupted when Cassandra attends a lecture on the beguines, laywomen who lived in sisterhood in thirteenth-century Belgium. The beguines were the subject of a popular historical mystery series by Stella Terwicker who died ten years before, but whose literary estate is still creating problems for those who knew her, including her biographer. Cassandra is soon pulled into investigating a possibly suspicious death, a task that takes her from the Ladies’ Pond in London’s Hampstead Heath to the medieval city of Bruges to the seacoast of Devon. With Nicky’s help, Cassandra must unravel a story of desire, lies, and love that stretches back decades to the rabble-rousing years of women’s liberation and feminist publishing. Sixth in the Cassandra Reilly series, which began in 1990 with Gaudi Afternoon. Ms. Wilson’s lesbian globe-trotter has a restless nature, a facility for languages, and a lively curiosity about foreign cultures. Toss in her offbeat sense of humor and you’ve got a terrific road pal.” The New York Times
