I liked the political background that Robb wove into this book - Balliol, Bruce, Longshanks, Wallace, Murray, and all the ordinary people trying to survive between them. And Margaret is an excellent MC, flawed in all sorts of believable ways but sympathetic nonetheless. Also I love Celia.

Mi aspettavo molto meglio dalla nuova serie di Candace Robb.
La trama e i protagonisti non sono da buttare, ma non spiccano nemmeno né per originalità né per profonde caratterizzazioni.
Vero punto debole del libro è la scrittura, forse più colpa della traduzione che dell'autrice: pesante, lenta, con tempi verbali confusi. Il ritmo della narrazione ne esce profondamente spezzettato e nel complesso mai è riuscito a catturare in pieno la mia attenzione.

Unfortunately for Margaret Kerr of Perth, her books may always be compared to Robb's Owen Archer series, even if the comparison is somewhat unfair.

Margaret Kerr is not Owen Archer-- she is young and inexperienced, often jumps to conclusions too quickly, and makes hasty decisions putting quite a few people at risk. Her husband has gone missing in Edinburgh; her cousin-in-law who went off to find him comes back dead (and mutilated), so she sets off for Edinburgh ostensibly to figure out why. But really, Margaret's story is the story of why Scotland is at the brink of civil war with England.

Cheekily put, A Trust Betrayed is Braveheart but starring a woman and with historical accuracy.


Now I am not much of a fan of the mystery genre, but I go out of my way to find and read Robb's books. They go so far beyond genre conventions to tell true-to-life stories about people living in real historical events and settings. A Trust Betrayed succeeds in bringing Medieval Scotland to life much as the Owen Archer series brought York and Wales to life.

I might read on in the series, but I'll be hoping for a dramatic improvement. The setting is good, but the characters are all over the place and the "mystery" isn't much of one. I just didn't care if Margaret's husband is dead, missing, or just a jerk face.

I made it through this book, but it was a slog. I've enjoyed Robb's other series, but this book really didn't do it for me. Here as elsewhere, Robb's evocation of local and historical atmosphere is good. But the prose of this novel felt heavily expository, telling instead of showing all manner of emotions and motivations. Partway through the novel, I wondered whether it might have been better started in the middle; towards the end, I found myself thinking that it would have worked better as a series of flashbacks or gradual revelations once we'd gotten to know and care about the characters by other means. I feel I should mention that the treatment of medieval medicine was good -- as I so rarely can say that about any historical fiction -- but I just couldn't get into either the emotional drama or the high politics that intertwine in this novel. I might give the second installment a try, because 1297 Edinburgh is (obviously) potentially explosive, but this book feels missable.

This book starts a new series for Ms. Robb based on the character of Margaret of Perth set in 13th century Scotland. The book is classified as a mystery, but I really didn't find it to be much of one. I thought it more a political and historical set up for this new series. Nonetheless, I thought it was a quick, light, entertaining read espcially if you are a history buff. In an afterward, Ms. Robb includes some information I found interesting - William Wallace did not support Robert Bruce but the reigning King of Scotland, John Balliol.