Twenty-six books and still going strong!  I find it hard to believe that once I found these tales a tad on the cozy side, for now they are one of the most hardboiled histmyst series and getting more so with each title.  Jecks has the knack of telling it like it surely must have been and these are dark times even for the Middle Ages.  He paints a compelling picture of a time of brutal punishments, grinding poverty and frightening injustice, while still keeping a loveable pair of sleuths we can identify with.  In this book as in several of the later titles the detective side of things often takes a back seat while matters of state (and actual historical fact) are happening.  This means our two sleuths are not center stage the whole time, resulting in a fuller book that has more in it than just a mystery to solve.  To its detriment, this is probably the longest book Jecks has written yet, and at times a bit repetitive when old ground is covered once too often.  But for all that, this is still an impressive read, and one that is likely to appeal to more readers than just histmyst fans.  Of course, anybody coming late to the series is advised to read the other twenty-five first but that is no hardship...