In the Company of Fools

March 15, 2019
Bayard continues her original series featuring real-life historical figure Christine de Pizan. In this second outing, following In the Presence of Evil (2018), Christine, much in demand as both a scribe and a sleuth by the fourteenth-century French royals, is tasked by Queen Isabeau with solving a possible quadruple homicide that took place during a masquerade ball at the palace. After four guests are burned to death and King Charles VI is confined to his bed with a perplexing malady, she works behind the scenes to investigate the tragedy. Though many suspect the king's brother, the Duke of Orl�ans, Christine infiltrates the twisted inner circles of the court, which are rife with jealousies, rivalries, and conspiracies, in search of the real culprit. Outside the palace walls, Christine prowls the often-sordid underbelly of Paris in search of a missing husband, providing readers with a multidimensional portrait of the glitter and the grunge of medieval Paris. The liberal sprinkling of quotations, many from the real de Pizan's own works, lend this intriguing tale an air of historical authenticity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)