Music of the Distant Stars

Lassair has gone in the early hours to pray at the grave site of her grandmother.  She is shocked to see that the stone slab atop the grave has been moved.  When she peers into the grave, she discovers a second body inside.

When Lassair and her aunt Edild investigate the grave, they find the body is that of a young woman, and that she was pregnant at the time of her death.  Lassair rushes to the manor to tell Lord Gilbert and Lady Emma of the body.  Here she finds out that the young woman was a seamstress. 

Lassair returns to her aunt and the body with the justicair, Sir Alain de Villequier.  Edild, in the meantime, has determined that the young woman was strangled with a leather thong of some sort.  Lassair is determined to find out the story behind the young woman's pregnancy.  She and her frien Sibert head out to investigate.

Lassair later learns from Gurdyman that the victim had known Sir Alain earlier.  She is now sure that he had impregnated the young woman, that they had fallen in love when when he found himself betrothed to an unattractive woman.  She is sure that he is the murderer, but could he really have killed the woman he loved?  Why then was Sir Alain attacked in the night when he visited her grave?

Edild, based on evidence, is positive that there could be two different attackers in the area.  Author Alys Clare presents one suspect after another in this murder mystery only to reveal that they aren't the criminal.  It isn't until the very end of the book that the reader finds out who it really is.  A good, quick read.