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York: July 1224
On a hot July night, Brother Clement is savagely murdered when returning from administering to Lady Maud de Mowbray.
Simon de Hale, Sheriff of Yorkshire, is in his office when Abbot Robert visits to inform him of the murder, and request that he take responsibility for investigating the killing.
Simon is unsure whether the murder is a crime against the Abbey, or if it is a more personal matter against the monk.
Commencing their investigation, Simon and his deputy, Adam, ride out to see Lady Maud de Mowbray at Overton - the last person to see Brother Clement alive. When they encounter her son, Roger de Mowbray, they both take an instant dislike to him.
Lady Mowbray reveals to Simon that she intends to leave her money to the Abbey, and Simon can see this being a motive for the monk’s murder, if her son was aware of this.
The investigation gathers pace and a murder weapon is found.
A banquet is held at the castle to honour the Royal Justice - during which, one of the guests is exposed as the murderer and apprehended. But that will not be the end of the story for Simon and his family.
What did I think?
I really enjoyed my visit to 13th century York in Jill Bray's debut novel, A Brotherly Devotion. With a dual storyline of a murdered monk and an arranged marriage, it's intricately plotted and incredibly gripping. I couldn't read fast enough to both discover 'whodunnit' and how the story would end.
Simon de Hale is the Sheriff of Yorkshire and he is arranging the marriage of his youngest daughter Katherine whilst investigating the murder of Brother Clement. You'd think the murder investigation would be the most challenging but Katherine is a strong-minded young lady and she wants to marry for love, in fact she has found just the man and it's not the man her father has chosen.
I loved Katherine from the start but really couldn't see a way out of her arranged marriage as the King's permission had already been granted. What a quandary for Simon, especially when he is determined to bring the monk's killer to justice. With a bucketful of red herrings strategically placed in the prose, I didn't guess who it was until very late on and the way that the killer is revealed is very reminiscent of Agatha Christie.
Atmospheric, authentic and riveting, A Brotherly Devotion is a fabulous debut novel and a must-read for fans of historical fiction.
I received a gifted paperback to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
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About the author:
Jill lives on the Island of Guernsey now, but is originally from Yorkshire. She has a love of early medieval history which led her to study the subject at Huddersfield College in the 1980's. Working in Leeds at the time, meant that she had access to the Yorkshire Archaeological Society on their late night opening and following research, she wondered what the lives of the people she read about were actually like. This started a love of writing historical fiction, but her initial stories were never sent to a publisher. Life and work then intervened and writing was put to one side. It was only following a workshop held by the Guernsey Literary Festival in 2024 on writing historical fiction, that her love of writing was reignited. Her first novel 'A Brotherly Devotion' was published in July 2025.
Social Media Links:
Facebook: Jill Bray – Author
Twitter/X: @JillBray67
Website: https://www.jillbray.co.uk
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