A Brotherly Devotion by Jill Bray

A Brotherly Devotion

by Jill Bray

A Brotherly Devotion by Jill Bray was published in July 2025.

My thanks to Jill for sending me a copy to review and to Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me onto the tour.

Synopsis

YORK 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.

My Thoughts

Think Brother Cadfael mysteries and you have the right genre and type of setting for A Brotherly Devotion by Jill Bray. Like the Cadfael mysteries this is an easy, though intriguing, mystery that keeps you turning the pages from start to finish without a break. 

The words flow with ease from the author onto the page and then from the page to the reader. Each character is described in detail as the story progresses allowing you to build up a clear image of each one and their relevance to the plot. The storyline is cleverly construed to take the reader down different paths and have you wondering what will develop each time a new one is added. Consequently you have to have your wits about you as the plot thickens and I found myself questioning many of the actions as I got further and further into the book.

This is a book that you need to set aside a few hours for so that you can read it in one sitting without being distracted and get the most out of all the developments.

I was surprised to find that A Brotherly Devotion is a debut novel as it comes across as written by a far more experienced writer who knows how to play to their audience and I sincerely hope that this is going to be the first of many novels from Jill Bray that we will have the pleasure to read in the not too distant future.

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.