Sor Fidelma acude a la abadía de El Salmón de los Tres Pozos para esclarecer las circunstancias de la muerte de una joven hallada decapitada. Todo parece apuntar a algún rito demoníaco, pero a medida que va conociendo a los habitantes de la zona, Fidelma va descubriendo antiguas rivalidades, ambiciones y pugnas que dan un giro completamente nuevo a sus sospechas.

Still early in the series, Peter Tremayne's The Subtle Serpent gives us a not-yet-fully developed Sister Fidelma, and a strange intermingling of Brother Eadulf. Something is definitely amiss at the Abbey of the Salmon of the Three Wells, one of which has recently hosted a beheaded corpse! The whodunit aspects stretch out a bit longer than necessary, and the twists and turns feel a bit more like loose threads, but it is a solid installment in the series. Most enjoyable is Sister Fidelma's facing off with the cantankerous (that's generous) Abbess Draigen. There are rather a lot of sisters to keep track of, and so empathy for some of the characters doesn't really have a chance to develop. As always, however, Tremayne weaves in medieval Irish history of both pagan and early Christian origins and it is well worth allowing yourself to be lured in to a land of yesteryear wherein the contexts may be old, but the motives are just as relevant today. ( )

The Subtle Serpent by Peter Tremayne is the fourth in a series of mysteries set in 7th Century Ireland. The detective is Sister Fidelma, a nun who is trained as a lawyer. In this story Sister Fidelma sets out to solve the mystery of who killed the headless woman found in the well of an abbey. Other characters and some suspects appear as Fidelma tries to identify the dead headless woman and determine who killed her and put her in the well. While she is working on this another headless body appears. This is the first Peter Tremayne I have read. Peter Tremayne is the pen name of Peter Ellis, a writer who has studied the Celtic world of the First Millenium. ( )

Décidément, les romans de Peter Tremayne m'ennuient, tellement il y a de digressions pour expliquer l'histoire embrouillée de certaines régions d'Irlande, avec en prime des tas de mots de vieil irlandais, dont on se passerait bien car cela coupe désagréablement la lecture. C'est le troisième ouvrage que je lis de cet auteur, si l'intrigue est intéressante et compliquée à souhait, elle est gâchée par toute cette "science historique" que je trouve inutile et encombrante. ( )

sorella fidelma mi piace sempre di più!
brillante racconto, anche se qualcosa si può tranquillamente intuire ( )