Special Guest Post by Tracey Warr, Author of of Love’s Knife (Trobairitz Sleuth series 1)

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1093. The music of murder. Beatriz de Farrera is a trobairitz (a female troubadour) at the court of Toulouse. She sings of love but intends to evade marriage and romantic entanglements. Her patron, Philippa, is the heiress of the rich city and county of Toulouse.

Sound and Silence

Love’s Knife is the story of three young women at the court in medieval Toulouse, who find themselves embroiled in a murder. Lady Philippa is the rightful heir to Toulouse but her uncle and cousin have other ideas. Someone is stealing huge amounts of salt, which is one of the most valuable commodities in this early medieval world. The pope is in contention with the abbot of Cluny over the income flooding in from pilgrims walking the new route to Santiago de Compostela. Anna is Lady Philippa’s deaf maid and Beatriz is the lady’s troubadour. Both Philippa and Beatriz are faced with unwelcome marriages.

Salt crystals forming in the pink salt lakes of Aigues-Mortes

My previous five medieval novels could be described as biographical historical fiction. Their protagonists were real women. For Love’s Knife, I wanted to take a different approach and write a medieval murder mystery. My main protagonist, Beatriz of Farrera, is an entirely fictional character (although there were real medieval female troubadours). Philippa of Toulouse is a real historical person and the events of her life provide the framework for this novel and the rest of the series.

Writers and artists have been secondary characters in all my previous novels, but they take centre stage in this new novel. As a musician and poet, Beatriz is always listening to the sounds around her. Her friend Anna has a different sensory experience of events. She cannot hear sounds but she can lipread and is a keen observer. There is also a sculptor in Love’s Knife, who is working on the grand new pilgrim church being built in Toulouse – Saint-Sernin – and he plays an important role in the story.

Saint-Sernin pilgrim church in Toulouse

 I had a number of key starting points for the novel:
- A writing residency I undertook in the high village of Farrera in the Catalan Pyrenees, where I first started imagining Beatriz and her story and saw the frescos of the Master of Pedret in one of the tiny mountain chapels
- A portrait painting of Alice Butts by Whistler, which gave me Beatriz’s face and some of her characteristics
- A silver triple-pin disc brooch from the Middle Ages in the British Museum
- Memories of my grandfather, who was deaf.

Whistler’s portrait of Alice Butt

I had fun creating the secondary characters in this novel, including Roger – a fearsome Norman Sicilian knight; Guillaume, duke of Aquitaine, who was a gifted poet in real life; and Imbert the troubadour. I carried out research on the medieval salt trade, the development of the pilgrim routes, and the palace of the counts of Toulouse.

I live in southern France, near Toulouse, so I am surrounded by inspirations for the story. I also travelled to several places that Beatriz goes to in pursuit of the murderer, including Poitiers, Conques and Aigues-Mortes. You can see more on my research for the novel on my Substack: https://traceywarr.substack.com


Tracey Warr

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About the Author

Tracey Warr was born in London, lived in southwest Wales and now lives in southern France. The castles and landscapes of Wales and France inspire her historical fiction. She is the author of six historical novels set in medieval Europe and centred on strong female leads. She draws on old maps, chronicles, poems and objects to create fictional worlds for readers to step into. Her writing awards include an Author’s Foundation Award, a Literature Wales Writer’s Bursary, and a Santander Research Award. Before becoming a full-time writer she worked as a contemporary art curator and art history academic. Tracey is part of the group organising author launch interviews for the Historical Novel Society website. She is also part of the team organising the next Historical Novel Society UK conference at Dartington Hall in Devon 6–8 September 2024. Find out more at https://meandabooks.com and follow Tracey on Facebook and Twitter @TraceyWarr1. You can sign up for the Meandering quarterly newsletter at http://eepurl.com/ifTA_P