Title: Interesting history, clunky writing
Product review: The Sister Fidelma books are about a fascinating period in history, but Tremayne is one of the most excruciating and clunky writers I've ever had the misfortune to encounter. I spent one book counting the number of times he uses the word "grimaced" (approximately once every ten pages and often incorrectly: she grimaced bashfully). The guy's a knowledgeable historian but not a novelist. There's a LOT of repetition, not just within one book, but from one book to the next -- he just lifts chunks of text and transposes them, as if it's too much trouble to write something new. I've read the first handful of these books and then just gave up expecting him to improve as a writer. The introductions to the time period and conditions in Ireland are far more interesting than the stories.
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