MASTER OF SOULS.

He may be Peter Tremayne to lovers of his Sister Fidelma mysteries, but in real life he is Peter Berresford Ellis, author of several books on the ancient Celts. Tremayne (or Ellis) applies his Celtic knowledge liberally to his stories about Fidelma of Cashel, religieuse, sister to the king at Cashel and dalaigh, or adminstrator of the Brehon law. As this mystery begins, Fidelma is traveling to the territory of the Ui Fidgente with her husband Eadolf, a Saxon, and Conri, a Ui Fidgente administrator, to investigate the murder of the Abbess Faife and the subsequent kidnapping of six young female sisters. In the process of unraveling the mystery, the author manages to teach the unwary reader lots of interesting facts about life in 7th-century Ireland--so much, in fact, that the work sometimes seems pedantic. As for Sister Fidelma, she is described perfectly by a minor character in the book: "Insight, reason and intellect. Impulsive, hot-tempered but sincere and unbegrudging. Positive, active and dominant, withal almost masculine...."--all fine characteristics for getting the job done but not for making Fidelma more endearing to the reader. While these mysteries may be historically accurate, they lack the spark of fellow-feeling that makes a reader warm to the characters. One comes away with the impression that Tremayne is more captivated by the historical period in which his mysteries are set than he is by the characters of his own creation. (Sorry, but don't know how to insert the accent marks that Tremayne tells us are so vital to the meaning of the Irish words.)