The Medieval Murderers – Book VIII
The Medieval Murderers
Simon and Schuster UK
5 July 2012/ ISBN 9781849837378
Historical Mystery / Various periods / UK, various places
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Amazon
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Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
I always think
of these delightful compilations of interwoven historical mysteries
by the changing cast of The Medieval Murderers as being akin to
annuals. They come out in the summer, but ought to come out at Christmas
as they have everything you could wish for in a good fireside read
for a winter’s night. This time the item destined to cause
murder and mayhem down the centuries is a mystery play, written
at Oseney Abbey in Oxford in 1154. The theme is the first murder
as Cain slays Abel, and as the manuscript resurfaces in later centuries,
how it continues to inflict its curse.
As usual, the various authors either choose to write side adventures
(ie ones that are not alluded to in the series novels) featuring
the characters they are known for or go for something new. In more
than one case the “something new” turns into a new set
of series characters just for this series, and often these are so
good and original, I wish they would write some proper novels featuring
them. A good example is Ian Morson, who writes again of the exploits
of the appealing, Joe Malinferno and Doll Pocket. Not many authors
choose a 1820s setting – neither Regency nor Victorian –
which makes it something rather special. Similarly, Susanna Gregory
does not give us the Cambridge crew or Chaloner, instead treating
her readers to a further tale of her 12th century Welsh pair. See,
another previously unheard of setting! Bernard Knight and Karen
Maitland give us stories featuring characters just for this book,
and it is Philip Gooden, who serves up a new case for his Shakespearean
actor Nick Revill. I always like these books (you can tell that
can’t you) and this is a particularly good one, which finally
concludes, thanks to Bernard Knight, with more than the usual archaeologists
digging up the item, which has got rather boring. Short stories
are never easy to write, but all these authors manage just fine.
May this series long continue to delight histmyst readers every
year.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
The
Tainted Relic 1
Sword
of Shame 2
House
of Shadows 3
The
Lost Prophecies 4
King
Arthur’s Bones 5
The
Sacred Stone 6
Hill
of Bones 7
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