SummaryThe Outcast Dove is the ninth title in Sharan Newman's
Catherine LeVendeur mystery series. In these well-
researched novels filled with fascinating details of
medieval life, Newman conveys the sounds, smells, and human
concerns of twelfth-century France and creates characters
who seem to have just stepped off the streets of medieval
Paris.
The threat to peace and safety this time is not focused on
Catherine LeVendeur, the heroine whose curiosity and
passion for justice have sometimes led her to solve some
grisly murders and brave horrors...but on those she loves.
Her family's fortune is in commerce, and while her husband,
Edgar, is a capable trader, they must rely on her dearest
cousin, Solomon, to negotiate the treacherous path to
riches. And therein lies the danger, for the fact that
Solomon is her cousin is secret. Catherine's father was
abducted as a child and raised as a devout Catholic---but
most of his family escaped and remained Jews. If their family connections are discovered, it could mean
ruin to Catherine's family. Or death.
As Edgar and Solomon travel to Spain to make their
fortunes, Solomon is drawn into a scheme to try to rescue a
Jewish girl take by Christians during the conquest of the
Spanish city of Almeira. To complicate matters, and sorely
vex his heart, Solomon encounters his long-lost father
Jacob, a man who rejected his Jewish faith and is now
Brother James, preparing his own trip to Spain to ransom
Crusader knights taken by the Moslems. When a fellow monk
is killed by an attacker in the street late at night, it's
put down to a random mugging. But James, who is carrying
the ransom money, believes that he will be the next target.
Circumstances force him to turn for help to the son he
abandoned.
Solomon wants nothing to do with his father. But he's
confronted by his past, his ancestry, the need for secrecy,
and his love for those of his family who have chosen a
different path.
In confronting all these things, Solomon will come to a
decision about who he is...and where he really belongs.
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