The Sister Fidelma mysteries are a series of historical mystery novels and short stories by Peter Tremayne (pseudonym of Peter Berresford Ellis) about a fictional detective who is the eponymous heroine of a series. Fidelma is both a dalaigh (an advocate in the courts of the Five Kingdoms of Éireann), and Celtic nun (Ellis uses the French term "réligieuse"). The Sister Fidelma stories are set in the middle to late 7th century, mainly in Ireland. They are historical whodunits in the literary tradition of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, the Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters, and the Judge Dee mysteries by Robert van Gulik (inspired by Gong'an fiction and by the official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty Di Renjie). Peter Tremayne's novels usually feature the interaction of several subplots involving political intrigue, personal relationships, religious conflict, or characters' desires for personal or monetary gain. Fidelma usually solves crimes in company with Brother Eadulf, a Saxon monk (Ellis uses the French term "réligieux"). Though Eadulf has often been compared to Sherlock Holmes's friend Dr. Watson, he is in fact more of an equal partner to Fidelma and usually proves essential to solving the mystery at hand (in fact, in the story of The Leper's Bell he solves one of the main problems himself). A true companion, he has saved Fidelma's life more than once. Main characters Sister Fidelma Fidelma is usually described as attractive with "a tall, yet a well-proportioned figure" (described so in many of the short stories), with pale skin, red hair (strands of which have been known to "rebelliously" escape from under her hood or head-dress) and either green, grey-green or blue-green eyes (the short stories use these different descriptions). She was born into the royal family of Munster in the late 630s; her father, King Failbe Fland, died c. 637/9, during Fidelma's infancy. Fidelma was raised as an Eoghanacht princess. She studied civil and criminal law, especially the Brehon laws, under the supervision of Brehon Morann of Tara. During her student years, Fidelma had an unhappy love affair with Cian, a warrior of the High King's bodyguard, who eventually abandoned her to marry the daughter of the High King's steward (who, ironically, later divorced him on the grounds that he was sterile). Her pre-occupation with Cian interfered with her concentration and devotion to her studies, and nearly caused her to be expelled from the