Alone in his isolated, windswept chapel on the edge of Dartmoor, his only companions moor men and poverty–stricken serfs, who could blame the young priest, Mark for seeking affection from Jane, the local miller’s daughter? But when Jane’s body is found brutally stabbed, Mark is the obvious suspect—and the discovery that Jane was pregnant seems to confirm his guilt. Called in to investigate, Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Simon Puttock soon begin to have their doubts. Could it not have been one of Jane’s many admirers who murdered her in a fit of jealousy? Or her father, the miller, who is acting in an increasingly disturbed manner? And what exactly is the local Baron trying to hide? In their search for the truth, Furnshill and Puttock unwittingly place themselves and their families in the greatest danger they have ever faced.
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Review
"Memorable characters, steadily absorbing period background...a commendable achievement."
From the Publisher
In this richly atmospheric series of medieval murder mysteries, Michael Jecks gives us tales steeped in intrigue and historical detail. Skillfully evoking the colorful, but often brutal tableaux of the Middle Ages, Jecks has drawn comparison with Ellis Peters. Now former Knight Templar Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock, his savvy sleuths, are on the case again in another compelling, well–crafted tale.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Mj Perry
Format:Paperback
I bought this book last year to read on a plane home from Ireland, and never had the opportunity to open it. Today I'm home ill and could not face the thought of reading anything school or work related and so picked up this rather long (500 pages) mystery.
At first I had trouble getting into. In his desire to ensure the reader has sufficient grasp of Medieval history, Jecks gives so much detail it distracts from the story. However, eventually the twists and turns of plot, and the development of the characters leads the reader to pursue the story to the end.
The primary murder causing the story to unfold is that of a young woman named Mary. Not long after learning of her death I thought I had her murder solved, and although the facts that I had determined were correct, their outcome was not. It is a book full of intrigue, abuse of power, betrayal, mutiny and most of all surprises. Even the very last page contains a surprise.
One of the other unusual charcteristics of this particular novel involves the reader in trying to determine the hero. The two men, Simon and Baldwin, are nothing alike, and yet each is so committed to justice that they work in such tandem that I would often need to check who was speaking.
I think it is worth persevering through the first few chapters of the book to get to a very exciting resolution to the mystery--however, those chapters can be work.
I think another indication of its quality is the fact that I read it in just over half a day.
At first I had trouble getting into. In his desire to ensure the reader has sufficient grasp of Medieval history, Jecks gives so much detail it distracts from the story. However, eventually the twists and turns of plot, and the development of the characters leads the reader to pursue the story to the end.
The primary murder causing the story to unfold is that of a young woman named Mary. Not long after learning of her death I thought I had her murder solved, and although the facts that I had determined were correct, their outcome was not. It is a book full of intrigue, abuse of power, betrayal, mutiny and most of all surprises. Even the very last page contains a surprise.
One of the other unusual charcteristics of this particular novel involves the reader in trying to determine the hero. The two men, Simon and Baldwin, are nothing alike, and yet each is so committed to justice that they work in such tandem that I would often need to check who was speaking.
I think it is worth persevering through the first few chapters of the book to get to a very exciting resolution to the mystery--however, those chapters can be work.
I think another indication of its quality is the fact that I read it in just over half a day.
Format:Paperback
This is my first encounter with Jecks, and it will also be my last. The author belongs, with a few notable exceptions, to the "tell instead of show" school of writing, producing some really flat prose. The exceptions are his descriptions of husbands' love for their wives and his descriptions of the fugative monk's sufferings as he flees and is imprisoned.
More important than the style, the plot reads like a male author's fantasy world of sex and violence. Much of the mystery consists of surprising relevations, in a deus-ex-mechina fashion, about who fathered whom (the ending suprise is totally egregious and unmotivated, apparently existing only for its own sake), and the author apparently revels in descriptions of the villainous aristocrats' overdrawn cruelty and the long-drawn-out decisive battle.
I will give him credit for his portrayal of the helplessness of the non-powerful in the early years of the fourteenth century. In his negative view of medieval life, he and Edith Pargeter, a.k.a. Ellis Peters (author of the thirteenth century Brother Cadfael series) balance each other. However, he commits a historian's howler by making the early protagonist a monk; although the size of their estates in the fourtenth century led abbots and their agents into the world on monastery (and, notoriously, occasionally personal) business, monks were explicitly dedicated to retiring from the world to a life of prayer, and were a branch of clergy quite distinct from diocesan priests entrusted with the care of a flock as Father Mark was.
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
If you're here because you read all adventures of Brother Cadfael and you found, like I did, that you wanted more stories about medieval England then you have come to the right place!
Let me say that although the mystery in the story is sufficient, it's in the characters and in the reality of everyday life that the story comes alive. The author (who, btw, knows medieval history so well he plays with his inexperienced readers from time to time) is fascinated with the imbalance of power between the serfs and their masters: the nobles and the clergy. He describes with passion the abuse of power perpetrated by the not-so-noble knights on the submissive local serfs. The knights think themselves invulnerable as they believe they have the support of the most powerful family in the kingdom. Yet, their plotting leaves them with no real friends and their newly acquired castle is guarded by hired soldiers who have their own agenda in mind.
A girl is viciously murdered and the priest who had an affair with her is accused, but soon we find out he's not guilty of killing her and her death is somehow tied to another murder of a man whom she has never known, but who held some secrets of the lord of the castle. Into that complicated web of local gossip and vicious plotting for yet more power Sir Baldwin arrives. He's an ex-Templar, now married and for the first time since the destruction of his Order daring to be happy. He's been charged by the king with finding the truth. He's a worldly man, a little cynical from his experiences, yet a kind man despite his ruling manner. By the time he's figured out the depth of evil contained in the murder mystery the reader will believe the medieval times were indeed very dark. Yet, things are at their darkest just before sunrise. It's the good act that redeems the cruel man and there is no act that can't be redeemed. We see the men get up and live their simple lives in dignity because the justice was done just as our knight marches off on a pilgrimage to pay for his mistake.
I think Brother Cadfael would say "things are as they should be."
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