Our Lady of Darkness — Peter Tremayne

Ariving home from a pilgrim voyage, Sister Fidelma is told that her faithful Saxon companion, Brother Eadulf, has been found guilty of murdering a young girl. She hastens to the capital of the neighbouring kingdom of Laigin, where he is being held, determined to prove his innocence.

Her quest begins at the abbey of Fearna, where the murder took place, and where Fidelma clashes with the sinister Abbess Fainder, who is in no doubt of Eadulf's guilt. Fidelma can't deny that the evidence against her friend is overwhelming. Is it conceivable that Eadulf is actually involved in this sordid case of sex, shame and murder? She has little time to discover the truth for the King of Laigin has given in to Abbess Fainder's demand that the ecclesiastical Penitentials from Rome be used. The ecclesiastical law demands 'an eye for an eye'; Eadulf is due to be hanged...