Margaret Frazer

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Margaret Frazer is the pen name of a historical novelist known for more than twenty novels and a variety of short stories. The pen name was originally used by Gail Frazer and Mary Monica Pulver Kuhfeld in their collaboration on The Novice's Tale, the first of the Sister Frevisse books featuring the Benedictine nun Dame Frevisse. Their collaboration came to an end with The Murderer's Tale, the sixth book in the series. Starting with the Edgar Award-nominated The Prioress' Tale, the Margaret Frazer pen name has been used exclusively by Gail Frazer. Frazer also writes the Player Joliffe mysteries, starring the medieval actor Joliffe.

Contents

[edit] Overview

The first six Dame Frevisse books were written as a collaborative effort between Mary Monica Pulver Kuhfeld and Gail Frazer. The rest of the series has been written by Gail Frazer alone.

Several (but not all) of the books are set in or around St. Frideswide's, the nunnery in Oxfordshire in which Frevisse resides. The series features many historical figures.

The fictional main character, Dame Frevisse, is related by marriage to Geoffrey Chaucer, the famed author of the Canterbury Tales. Frazer has named several of her Frevisse series books after Chaucer's Tales but they are not re-tellings.

According to the books, Frevisse's mother's sister married Thomas Chaucer, Geoffrey's son. When Frevisse's parents died, Thomas, as her uncle, took her into his own household to raise until she joined the Benedictine order based at St. Frideswide's. Thomas and his daughter, Alice, the Countess of Suffolk, both bona fide historic personages, are recurring characters in the series.

Frazer has written a second set of mysteries, also set in 15th century England, featuring an actor and spy named Joliffe. Joliffe is a minor character in several of the mysteries of the Dame Frevisse series.

Margaret Frazer is a Herodotus award-winner, two-time Minnesota Book Award nominee, and two-time Edgar award finalist.

[edit] Dame Frevisse Series

  1. The Novice's Tale (1992)
  2. The Servant's Tale (1993) (received an Edgar award nomination)
  3. The Outlaw's Tale (1994)
  4. The Bishop's Tale (1994) (received a Minnesota Book Award nomination)
  5. The Boy's Tale (1995)
  6. The Murderer's Tale (1996)
  7. The Prioress' Tale (1997) (received an Edgar award nomination)
  8. The Maiden's Tale (1998)
  9. The Reeve's Tale (1999) (received a Minnesota Book Award nomination)
  10. The Squire's Tale (2000)
  11. The Clerk's Tale (2002)
  12. The Bastard's Tale (2003)
  13. The Hunter's Tale (2004)
  14. The Widow's Tale (2005)
  15. The Sempster's Tale (2006)
  16. The Traitor's Tale (2007)
  17. The Apostate's Tale (2008)

[edit] Joliffe series

  1. A Play of Isaac (2004)
  2. A Play of Dux Moraud (2005)
  3. A Play of Knaves (2006)
  4. A Play of Lords (2007)

[edit] External links