It is 1509 and, for the people of the Burren in western Ireland, the Michaelmas Fair is a joyous time for trade and celebration, signaling the start of autumn. It's a chance to gather, buy and sell their wares, and pay tribute to the lord of their clans. But this year is different. The steward of the MacNamara clan has decided to raise the amount demanded for its tribute, and it's not long before tempers are running high. When the steward's body is found in the local churchyard, it falls upon.Mara, the Burren's Brehon Judge, to pierce the puzzle together. Was it revenge, greed, or something more sinister that motivated the murder? When another body is discovered, it is up to Mara to bring the killer to justice.

This is the second of Cora Harrison's books featuring the Irish judge (or Brehon) Mara. This is the North American title. In the UK and Ireland it is called Michaelmas Tribute. Mara, in addition to being the judge for the Burren district of Western Ireland runs a school for legal scholars. As the fall term starts on Michaelmas (September 29) Mara expects her scholars back from their summer vacations. Two of them come in full of the news that they have found a dead body in the churchyard. The body is that of the steward for the Macnamara who had been collecting tribute the day before. Since no-one owns up to killing him it is a "secret and unlawful killing". Then a second body, that of the miller Aengus, turns up and he was also murdered. Mara is sure the two murders must be connected but is she right?

What I really enjoy about these mysteries is how Harrison weaves the traditional Irish law system into them. Even murder is punished only by a fine but only if the perpetrator owns up to the crime. Contrast that with the English system which hangs even mere theives. Mara and the clans are trying to hang onto their traditional system but the English are close, just 20 miles away in Galway.

I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series and I'm delighted to learn that there are at least 3 more after that. ( )

I enjoyed this second installment in the Burren series about a female Brehon, or judge, Mara. This time there are a cascade of murders, one seemingly leading from another. When the murderer doesn't admit to his killing, Mara investigates.

It's a good read but I found the relationship with the king Turlough as distracting as the back cover suggests Mara was with him, it also wasn't really fleshed out all that well, while there were moments where the relationship sparked there were also moments where it just fell a bit flat.

I love the quotations from the different law texts at the beginings of the chapters as well, all of which relate to the plot. I'm not sure that they weren't chosen first rather than afterwards. ( )

On April 21, 1509, Henry VIII became king of England and Lord of Ireland. His ascension to these titles mattered little to the Irish living in Western Ireland in the kingdom of Thomond ruled by King Turlough Donn O'Brien, descendant of the famous warrior King Brian Boru. Although the English had made inroads into Ireland under the Norman kings, and Dublin was ruled by English lords, Thomond was well beyond the Pale of significant English influence. And in the Burren, the northernmost part of King Turlough's kingdom, the person who was responsible for administering justice was the king's Brehon—investigator, judge, scholar and professor of the ancient Irish laws, Mara O'Davoren.

In Mara O'Davoren, Cora Harrison has created a thoughtful and intuitive sleuth who operates in a most intriguing milieu. The daughter of a Brehon, Mara is steeped in the traditions and rituals of ancient Irish law. She not only administers the justice in the Burren, but also educates the young students at the law school at Cahermacnaghten, who will follow in her footsteps. Thoroughly independent, she has long ago divorced her husband (scrupulously following Brehon law) and raised her daughter, now married to a wine merchant in Galway, but Mara is courted by the widowed King Turlough who would make her his queen.

Mara loves her home and school in the Burren. It is a wild land — covered with limestone rocks, etched with grykes full of wild flowers and forage for cattle, hollowed by caves and dotted with ancient megaliths. The residents follow the ancient rhythms of ancient Celtic ritual interspersed with Christian tradition. Each of the novels occurs during the celebration of a communal holiday during the year 1509. In My Lady Judge (2007), Mara's assistant master, Colman Lynch, is found with a knife in his throat after the bonfire celebrations of Beltane (May 1). At the September Michaelmas Fair, the greedy steward of the MacNamara clan is beaten to death in the churchyard—a deadly Michaelmas Tribute(2008: published in the USA as A Secret and Unlawful Killing ). And on Samhain (October 31), the wealthy silversmith, Sorley Skerrett, is stung to death by a swarm of bees as he attends the funeral service of the local priest. Mara must pursue The Sting of Justice (2009).

Aided by her students, Mara carefully uncovers the truth behind each death and renders justice so the peace of the community may prevail. As described in The Sting of Justice, the ancient Irish Brehon law is civil, not criminal: "There were no prisons, no savage punishments. The Brehon delivered judgement; the fine was paid. The clan tradition of responsibility for the family ensured this obedience from its members."

In Cora Harrison's Mysteries of the Burren series, the reader is invited to explore 16th century Irish life, law and history with an engaging set of recurring characters.

First published in Belletrista 3: http://www.belletrista.com/2010/issue3/reviews_10.php ( )