Crowner's Crusade

1192 AD and Richard the Lionheart has decided to return home from his crusade in the holy land.  Included in his retinue are John de Wolfe and his friend Gwyn, both looking forward to getting home to England.

Richard's trip home is not easy.  He and his followers experience two shipwrecks before landing at the north end of the Adriatic.  Richard's wealth allows him to buy horses for transport.  Richard wants to return to Normandy so that he can prevent the French king from taking it.  However, there are numerous leaders in Europe who want to prevent Richard from making it home.

As they progress across Europe, the band is depleted until only John and Gwyn remain.  Richard becomes ill, and while John and Gwyn are out getting food, Richard is captured.  Phillip of France could now invade Normandy.

John and Gwyn return home; Gwyn happy in his marriage, John not.  However, John finds his wealth has grown while he was away.  He is able to invest some of it in an inn, which a former colleague owned.  Unfortunately he has died, and his wife Nesta has fallen on hard times.

John spends some time at his brother's after returning.  On his way back to Exeter he discovers a body.  The body has a ring on it that signifies he was likely a king's messenger.  Why was he slain?  John and Gwyn head to London to meet with a friend of theirs, whom they had fought alongside in Palestine; now the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Their investigation is successful at rooting out the troublemakers.  They also help to rid the area of some outlaws.  Because of the poor relationship with his wife, John eventually takes a mistress.  Eventually, when Richard is ransomed, he appoints John as coroner for the county.

Author Bernard Knight's prequel to the "Crowner" series is well written and paced.  A thoroughly enjoyable read.

World Without End

It is now the 14th Century in Knightsbridge; two centuries after the building of the cathedral.  A group of young people spy a knight fighting for his life in the forest.  They help him and thereby entwine their lives for the next several decades.

In this sequel to Ken Follett's "The Pillars of the Earth" the young people from various different walks of life grow up in the area of the great cathedral.  They fall in love, battle with one another and have children.  Life is not easy, but each becomes successful in his or her own way. 

Merthin becomes a master builder; the love of his life, Caris is forced into the nunnery to escape being hung for witchcraft.  Merthin's brother Ralph starts out as a squire to an earl, but earns a knighthood.  Their friend Gwenda lives the life of a serf, but manages to charm the man that she loves, Wulfric.  For all of them, life revolves in one way or another around the cathedral.

Life is not easy for any of them, each having a variety of trials and tribulations, the biggest of which is the plague, which kills thousands.  How will they survive this devastating pestilence?  Will it be prayer and superstition or healthy practises?

Follett has written an intriguing novel of life in the 14th Century.  For fans of historical novels, it will be hard to put down.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sorrow Without End

A man returning home from the Crusades has been murdered not far from the priory run by Eleanor.  Crowner Ralf has brought the body to the priory because the knife used to kill the man comes from Arabia, and he wants Sister Anne to have a look at the dead man.

No one knows it, but the murderer has also arrived at the priory.  Also just arrived at the priory is Brother Thomas, the man that Prioress Eleanor lusts for.  Thomas is asked by Ralf to examine the body with Sister Anne.  Upon seeing the face of the deceased, Thomas collapses.  Ralf wonders why, and takes Thomas into custody.

Eleanor and Anne are upset at Thomas' imprisonment, but Thomas will say nothing to gain his own freedom.  Meanwhile, the murderer is free, but suffering an agony of his own making.  When one of the nuns is attacked while at a lone prayer vigil, fear strikes the priory.

Meantime, Brother Matthew and Sister Ruth are trying to convince Eleanor to purchase a relic of a saint in order to draw pilgrims to the priory.  Eleanor suspects that this is Matthew's attempt to convince the monks to elect him as prior.

The prime suspect has disappeared, and shortly afterwards one of the hospital's patients is found murdered.  Surprisingly, it is Crowner Ralf who discovers the solutions to the crimes occurring at and near the priory.  Another good, quick read.

The Last King of Brighton

In the first half of this novel, author Peter Gutteridge presents the reader with the criminal world of Brighton in the 1960s.  Dennis Hathaway is the prince of the underworld and he gets his son, John, involved in criminal activities.  John gets to like the benefits of crime, but there are some aspects that he doesn't care for.

We move on to the modern era in the second portion of the novel; a man has been found murdered in a very grotesque way.  Sarah Gilchrist is on the case.  She also has been informed by former Chief Constable Bob Watts that a prominent fund raiser for the West Pier has been found dead of an apparent suicide.  Questions are also arising about the possible fire bombing of the West Pier.  On top of that a wealthy yacht owner has been found on his yacht skinned.  His wife is missing.

Watts and his friend Jimmy Tingley figure that the above incidents have been perpetrated by Vlad the Impaler, a rogue Bosnian who did such things during the Bosnia/Serbian war.  They inform Gilchrist of their ideas. 

As Gilchrist looks into the firebombing of the West Pier, a body comes to light, that of an old girlfriend of John Hathaway, but Gilchrist is unaware of the connection.  Watt's research makes the connection.  Watts and Tingley inform Hathaway that the Bosnians are moving into his territory with the intention of taking it over.

Hathaway's dilemma is how to get out of his lifestyle without giving in to the European usurpers.  He chose to go to war.  He also got a note from an old friend telling him it was time.

In the sequel to City of Dreadful Night, the author exposes the reader to the nastiness of crime life and how certain actions can result in payback.  An intense read.

The Lancelot Murders

Merlin has been summoned to Arthur's rooms.  There he is informed that Guenevere has dissolved her marriage to Arthur and married Lancelot.  Britomart receives intelligence that Guenevere and Lancelot are trying to forge an alliance with Emperor Justinian.  Arthur orders their arrest and the bringing of them to Camelot from Corfe.

An attempt is made on Arthur's life.  It was dark, and the villain was not seen.  In order to frustrate Guenevere's scheme, Arthur agrees to a celebration of her birthday, inviting heads of state from across Europe.  Merlin feels that this will help boost England in the eyes of other states in Europe.

Two of Merlin's ravens are murdered one night and a bloody knife with black feathers is found in Arthur's bed when he goes to get into it.  Is this a warning to Merlin, or Arthur, or both?

While in Corfe, an arrow just misses Arthur.  Lancelot fired it, but claims he had been jostled.  He is put in the dungeon anyways.  Guenevere imperiously demands his release.  Later, although well guarded, Lancelot is found over the body of Guenevere's father.

As Merlin and Arthur begin the investigation into the murder, Merlin wonders how Lancelot got the knife he used to commit the murder.  What role has international politics played in the murder?  Many questions are unanswered.

Lancelot escapes custody just before the final banquet.  During the banquet the Byzantine delegate is found murdered.  Merlin decides he needs to travel to France to find answers before the trial of Lancelot begins.  Will it be enough before more deaths occur?

In this sequel to The Excalibur Murders, author J. M. C. Blair has written an excellent mystery set in the time of King Arthur.  Merlin provides the reader with plenty of hints about who the villain might be, but it isn't right up until the last moment the reader finds out. 

The Dying Trade

Cliff Hardy is a P. I. in Sydney.  He has been asked by millionaire Bryn Gutteridge to investigate threatening notes that have been received by his sister, Susan.  The doctor looking after Susan doesn't want Hardy investigating her situation, and later that evening Bryn's servant is shot and killed.  Bryn's step-mother now wants Hardy to work for her, while Bryn's fires him.

Ailsa Sleeman is convinced that the doctor caring for her step-daughter is behind the death of her husband, and the murder of Bryn's man.  She asks for protection and an investigation into the doctor.

Unfortunately Hardy can't give her the protection she needs.  She is tortured before he can get to her.  With the help of the cops, Hardy releases Susan from the clinic where she was being kept.  However, Hardy feels that the case is not closed; there is more to investigate.

As he begins to investigate further, he discovers that Susan has been kidnapped.  He knows that her brother is involved.  However, Bryn is killed in an automobile accident, but not before Hardy realises that there is more to the case than just Bryn.

Hardy is arrested on vague charges.  Fortunately Susan's lawyer gets him out.  It is at this time that Hardy finds out that Susan has been run down by a red VW, it appears to be the one that has played an integral part in the story to this point.

As author Peter Corris brings his the novel to a conclusion, Hardy describes to Ailsa how he was able to figure out the mystery.  Peter Corris is a new author to me.  I enjoy a good murder mystery, and this was one, but it contained too much gratuitous violence for my taste.

The Queen's Head

February 1587, and Mary, Queen of Scots h been executed.  A year later and the Spanish Armada is set to sail against England.  Spanish troops await in The Netherlands, preparing for the invasion.  Queen Elizabeth was not going to let that intimidate her.

Nicholas Bracewell and Will Fowler are members of a group of players that put on performances at The Queen's Head.  Shortly after the Armada has been defeated, Nick and Will meet up with Sam Ruff at another inn.  There, Will is engaged in a sword fight and killed.  As Will lies dying in Nick's arms he asks Nick to find the rogue who killed him.

A short time later, a young, pregnant woman appears at Nick's home.  She is the widow of Will; something that Nick was unaware of.  He also finds out that Will was a Roman Catholic.  Nick wonders what other secrets Will harboured.

Meantime, there are troubles within Nick's theatre group.  Three apprentices have ganged up on another, an actor doesn't like Sam being part of the group and a playwright has set out to cause trouble for them because his play was rejected.

On the eve of their play about the Armada, Nick is attacked by the same man who murdered Will, and an accomplice.  The only copy of the play is stolen.  Who is responsible; another theatrical group, or someone else?  Nick thinks the attack on him and the murder of Will are tied together.  Someone wants to damage his theatrical group.

Author Edward Marston gives the reader an excellent historical murder mystery with a surprising twist at the end.  The title itself presents a few subtleties in and of itself.  A very good read.