In the past year I’ve had a lot of time to read, and it’s been heaven. I kept a list—the totals are running into the hundreds now,--but the books I enjoyed the most were Ariana Franklin’s Mistress of the Art of Death series. The first was Mistress of the Art of Death, introducing Adelia, a twelfth century version of today’s CSI and her lover Rowley, and, my favorite part, the family she creates for herself in England, far away from her home in Salerno (where she grew up and attended medical school—in the twelfth century! Yes!).
When I’d finished Mistress I immediately went to B&N.com to see if there were other books, and there were (The Serpent’s Tale, Grave Goods and A Murderous Procession), so I quick-like-a-bunny-rabbit reserved them at the library and read them like a woman rescued from the desert gulps down water.
I had to wrench myself away from the fourth book to scoot up to Flagler Beach to have lunch with my Noodler friend Merrillee, but as soon as I got home I sat down to enjoy the (cliff-hanger) ending. Wonderful!!! I noted that Franklin’s website was listed on the flyleaf of the book, and, curious about when the fifth book in the series would come out, I pulled out my trusty Netbook and looked her up.
Much to my surprise—and horror, if you must know—I discovered that my new favorite author had passed away in January of this year.
I couldn’t even look at a book for the next four days. I felt as if I’d lost a friend—or friends, if you will, because I had come to love all the characters in the Mistress of the Art of Death series.
And not a word, anywhere, about the future of the series.
A little piece of me hopes that someone, perhaps one of Franklin’s daughters, will complete the series and give Adelia and Rowley their happy ending. A larger piece of me will always remember Franklin as one of the most accomplished writers I’ve ever read.
I’ll miss you, Ariana.
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