Medieval murder mystery

I don’t know why, but from time to time I do like to read a detective which takes places in medieval England. This good be during Tudor times (C.J. Sansom, S.J. Parris), during Roman times (Simon Scarrow), or in 13^th century Devon (Michael Jecks). In England there is always something going on.

I discovered the books by Michael Jecks last year on the Book Festival. And still regret that I didn’t buy all the books present. To me it looked as though it were two different series; it wasn’t. In York this May I bought the first instalment of the series: “The last Templar”. So all in all I now own only 11 of his 31 novels. Gives me something to look for when I’m in England.

In “The last Templar” our two heroes – Simon Puttock, the bailiff of Lydford Castle and Sir Baldwin Furnshill, a troubled knight – meet and solve their first murders. Furnshill is the new owner of a local estate after his brother’s death. He spent around 20 years abroad fighting as a Templar knight. This story takes place shortly after the downfall of the Templar Knights and the burning of the Grand Master in Paris. Therefore Furnshill isn’t very open about his past. He meets Simon and the two men instantly bond. The first murder they have to solve is of a very unpopular man in a small hamlet. His house burned down with him in it. Simon thinks it’s an accident, but Baldwin immediately suspects murder. Their murder investigation is however cut short by the murder of the new abbot of the Buckland Abbey. The new abbot was abducted by two men, led into the forest and there burned alive. Some people connect the two murders, due to the use of fire. Simon isn’t very convinced the murders were done by the same murderer. Before they can dig into this murder, Simon is called to a new murder site. A group of merchants is attack. Their caravans burned – even with people still in it, people killed and a young girl abused and murdered. With a posse Simon follows the murdering band and captures them. Among them is also a knight. He rides the horse of the abbot. Well, that should be our murderer right? Wrong. After solving the murder of the unpopular man Simon confronts Baldwin about his suspicions. And Simon was correct. Baldwin in the end tells the heartbreaking story of the downfall of the Templars. The French king and the pope were after their money. They used a former Templar – Oliver de Penne – to convince the Templar knights to plead guilty to the heretic charges. De Penne is rewarded with the archbishopric of southern France. Baldwin tracks him down, but is unable to kill him. But then the pope dies and a new pop is elected. And this pope does not like De Penne. So he is kind of banned to Buckland Abbey. And where is Buckland? Yes, somewhere in Devon. So on his way to his brother’s house, Baldwin meets De Penne. For his hideous crimes against his fellow brothers Baldwin and his faithful helper Edgar burn him alive, the heretic death. Simon does the honourable thing and does not turn in his friend. The murder was done while temporarily insane. Furthermore, nobody is served with Baldwin behind bars. But Simon arranges for Baldwin to be instated as Keeper of the Peace, which will keep him occupied and serving the community.

“The chapel of bones” and “The butcher of St. Peter’s” (books 18 and 19) take place in and around Exeter. “The chapel of bones” was actually the first book of the series I read. These two books are slightly different from the first book. In the first book Simon is the main hero. The book evolves around him. Baldwin is just a side character. In “The chapel of bones” and “The butcher of St. Peter’s” Simon is a side character and everything is about Baldwin. He is married with a child, going though some marital issues – he cheated on her and his conscience is playing with him ever since. “The chapel of bones” is about a murder many years ago which took place on the cathedral grounds. It still has his repercussions. Even high placed clergy aren’t save. The chapel of bones is an actual chapel, where the bones of dead monks are laid to rest.

 “The butcher of St. Peter’s” takes place immediately following the events in “The chapel of bones”. Baldwin got injured and couldn’t leave Exeter yet. The book tells a tale of what poor people could have gone through in times of hunger, famine and death. This tale is entwined with a tale of human greed and lust.

All in all I liked the later books better. Maybe that’s a consequence of not starting a series with the first book. But with Baldwin and Simon Jecks created two very real, very believable characters. Yes of course they have luck when solving their crimes, but we all need some luck now and then.

If you look at the cover art, I like the one for the later books more. And although I’m not a huge fan of publishers changing covers all the time, I do think this is an improvement. But with everything, the like or dislike of cover art is also very personal.