‘The Good Death’ is fifth in the Oswald de Lacy historical mystery series by SD Sykes and it feels like the last. That is only my guess but there is a ‘rounding of the circle’ to the story, answering questions raised in the first novel. I read it quickly, and sort of guessed the mystery but not quite.
The story is told in two timelines as Oswald in 1370 sits at the bedside of his mother, who is dying. She clutches to her breast a letter which she will not show him. Instead she demands he tell her the truth of what happened in 1349 when Oswald was an eighteen-year-old novice monk, prior to where ‘Plague Land,’ first novel in this series, begins. Sent by his mentor in the infirmary, Brother Peter, to gather herbs in the woods, Oswald meets a terrified girl who runs from him into a fast-flowing river where she drowns. Oswald carries her body to the village and discovers that other young girls have disappeared, never seen again, but no one in authority will investigate. Plague is reported in neighbouring villages and everyone wants to stay close to home. Only the beautiful widow Maud Woodstock listens to Oswald’s concerns and, flattered by her attention, he decides to investigate.
Brief passages are spent at Somerhill Manor in 1370 – Oswald’s mother is dying but still manipulative, his wife is bored, a house guest is irritating and his sister is jealous of the time he spends with their mother – but the bulk of the story takes place in 1349. Oswald is forced to remember an incident in his past that he would rather forget, when as a teenager he becomes an enthusiastic investigator. He jumps to conclusions based on prejudice, generalisations and gossip, putting himself in danger, but finding each possible suspect is innocent. As his list of potential murderers gets shorter, the danger to Oswald – from the murder, and also from the approaching plague – increases. But what if the murderer is someone he doesn’t know or doesn’t consider a likely suspect.
This series has got better with every book and if this is the last, it will be a loss. Sykes tells Oswald’s story in a fast-moving engaging way that is rooted in its medieval time of violence, patriarchy, misogyny and forbidden passions.
Excellent.
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Oh, good, another Oswald de Lacy story! Oh, no, could this be the last?

Oswald's (infuriating) mother is dying, and in order to get the good death of the title she has to force Oswald to revisit a terrible time in his past, when he was only the third son and a novice monk, and tell her everything that happened. Which he doesn't want to do.

This is a fast-moving murder mystery set in the 14th century when religion rules everyone's lives. But life then was famously 'nasy, brutish and short' and it's certainly too short for the local girls who disappear, including one whose death Oswald believes he's responsible for. To find out who the killer/s could be, he's up against the Black Death, which imposes a lockdown on the abbey he lives in, as well as his own family and a number of villainous characters. No-one seems trustworthy and he's a very naive young man.

I greatly enjoyed this twisty, thrilly book. If there was anything I could have done with less of it was the scenes in Oswald's later life, when he's Lord of the Manor (but not having a great deal of fun). That's probably because I disliked his mother and sister and would have preferred more time with Oswald and a little more exploration of his relationship with his wife, which seemed quite thin. But all in all, another hit for SD Sykes.

1370 and Oswald de Lacy is pulled to his mother's deathbed as she insists that he recounts the events of 20 years ago, clutching a document that Oswald wants. 1349 and young Oswald is a novice in the Abbey his family endows but, when a young village girl dies, Oswald finds he is involved in something very nasty and with ramifications for his future.
I've really enjoyed the de Lacy stories and this one works well, taking the reader back to the start and explaining quite a lot of backstory. Oswald's family remains as unpleasant as ever and the setting at the start of the Black Death is poignant. Fabulous research as ever and a real insight into life in 14th Century England.

This was the first book I read in this series and it won't be the last as I thoroughly enjoyed.
A mix of historical mystery and historical fiction told in a dual timeline with an interesting cast of characters and a well researched and vivid historical background.
The author is a good storyteller and the story kept me hooked and guessing.
Even if it's the 5th book in this series it can be read as a stand alone.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Good Death by S.D. Sykes

It is 1370 and time has passed at the manor of Somershill in Kent. But the past has never been so urgent for its lord, Oswald de Lacy. Oswald’s mother, a formidable woman, is dying and in her possession is a letter that raises ghosts from that terrible time of 1349 when the Black Death crossed the land, killing so many in its path, including Oswald’s father and brothers. Oswald’s mother needs to understand what happened all those years before in order to make peace with her son before it is too late. And so Oswald sits by her bedside and recalls the time when young women disappeared from the village and he, a young novice monk, tried to find out why, when every day the world grew smaller as communities shrank into themselves, or fled, as the plague crept relentlessly nearer.

The Oswald de Lacy series is wonderful. It’s beautifully written and it moves around the years, and around Europe (Oswald has spent time in Venice), but its focus is always the plague years and always this Kentish haven. Almost ten years have gone by since The Bone Fire but this fifth novel, The Good Death, calls a halt and instead goes back into the past. We spend brief interludes in the ‘present’ of 1370 but the majority of the time is spent in the days leading up to the arrival of the Black Death when Oswald found himself with reasons to investigate the disappearance, and presumed murders, of several girls from the village. At the time, Oswald was a novice monk on the cusp of manhood, never expecting to inherit. Everything was about to change.

The story, as usual in these fabulous novels, is excellent and the further it progresses the more involved the reader becomes. It has a gentle pace but during the second half I found myself utterly engrossed and read all of that half in one sitting. The mood and atmosphere build and build as the plague creeps ever nearer. The village feels like a refuge but for how long? And where are the young women? The answers lie in the woods around the village and, in that lawless place, anything is possible. It is sinister and menacing in equal measure while Oswald, the innocent, falls into the thick of it.

The Good Death is beautifully written and immersed in its time, surely one of the most terrible periods in English history. Of course, this was written, and read, in a time of pandemic and that certainly adds to its mood and perhaps makes it easier for us to relate to these frightened communities. You don’t need to have read the other novels to enjoy this one, although you might have a greater appreciation of Oswald’s mother and sister if you have done. The focus is most definitely on the past, although that is rather pleasing as it means we have fresh light thrown on the earlier novels in the series. It’s clever, without a doubt.

I love Oswald. He feels real to me, as do his family and friends. I marvel at the way in which the author evokes this feudal age. It’s so well drawn and full of lots of historical details about life, society, law, medicine, work, obedience in a mid 14th-century manor, in which workers are compared to mute insects, and monastery. Oswald bridges society and in some ways is very alone and on its margins. There is a strong sense that he must let the past go and here we find out why.

The Good Death is a fabulous historical crime mystery and I didn’t guess it at all! The historical setting is great, as is its location in woody Kent. The story is so good but this book goes bigger than that, finding a way in to explore a time in our history when death became more horrifying than ever and when feudalism itself came under attack from an unexpected foe, plague.

Other reviews
Plague Land
The Butcher Bird
City of Masks
The Bone Fire

The Good Death by S D Sykes is the 5th book in the Oswald de Lacy series but can be read as a standalone.
In short, you are transported straight into the 14th century for a good old medieval whodunnit. At the tender age of 18, Oswald de Lacey now Lord Somershill after the death of his father and two brothers, is forced to confront the secret that has haunted him since those days in the monastery. He recounts his confession to his dying mother on her death bed, which begins with the upsetting death of a young village girl and Oswald’s vow to find her killer which threatens to destroy him and his family.
It’s a great piece of storytelling…well rounded characters and an absorbing entangled plot all played out in a vivid sense of time and place. It was interesting to read how important it was that medieval people had a ‘good death’, as they believed it would hasten the passage through Purgatory, and ensure the gates of Heaven would be open on arrival…as Oswald’s mother said to him, ‘Thank you for your honesty. This was not a story I wanted to hear. But it was right for me to hear it, before I die.’
I’ve not read many novels from this era, however, I did enjoy ‘The Good Death’, it was a delicious blend of history and thriller.
Big thanks to S D Sykes, Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for this eARC which I chose to read in return for my honest review.

The Good Death is a kind of two hander, the first part of the book is set in Oswald’s present where he is at his mothers side as she lies apparently dying and he is recounting to her the story of mysterious letter that she has found. The contents of which are something that Oswald needs his mother’s forgiveness for.
The bulk of the story is about Oswald just before he leaves the monastery and how he gets pulled into investigating the disappearance of several local village women. We meet his two brothers along the way and find out that there is more to their deaths than previously revealed.
In the concurrent story there is tension in the De Lacey household as his wife is fed up with him spending all his time with his mother and neglecting her so she goes off and flirts with another man with Clemence stirring the pot for good measure.
Im quite sad about Oswald’s mother she was one of the most brilliantly frustrating characters I’ve ever read. I’m pretty sure she qualifies as an evil genius and she has always been a highlight of these books. I am hoping, if there’s more, Clemence steps in to the role but she’s more bitter and poefaced so I’m not sure she will cut quite the same swathe. Oswald remains frustrating. He is always trying to be good and is likeable but he is so easily swayed and it was interesting to see the contrast of young Oswald versus Older Oswald. Has he changed that much? I’m not sure but I did give a little cheer when he didn’t immediately go running after his wife.
RIP Mother De Lacy forever keepin it real.

Sooooo good! On realising this was a 5th book of a series and a subject and era of which I am an avid reader I quickly bought the 1st one, to get a feeling of context and character; but then followed it with the 2nd and 4th (I still have the joy of reading the 3rd, based in Venice, to come). I LOVE the character of Oswald de Lacy, from the gawky youth to the grown man. In this book, he has returned from Venice with his second wife, Filomena and his (first wife's) son.
This book is centred around Oswald's mother's deathbed. Always a difficult woman, she holds a letter close to her chest which Oswald is anxious to obtain, and destroy. We dont' know what the letter contains. He wants her forgiveness for his sins and actions past, before she passes away and so begins a long confession of events which occurred back in his youth when he was a novice monk at Kintham. This centres around his first investigation of 5 missing young women from a nearby village; swiftly followed by a missing monk. Lots of twists and turns, forbidden love, and arrogant and violent acts. Brother Peter of course is there to protect Oswald at every turn - or is he?
I highly recommend not just this book but the whole series of books by SD Sykes. And as a huge fan of CJ Sansom's Shardlake series (an investigator around the Tudor period with a very similar down to earth attitude and sense of dry humour) - I strongly think these two authors need to get together to plot the family tree as I'm convinced Oswald is a forbear of Shardlake! I'm going straight to buy Book 3 right now!

A retrospective mystery, shared through Oswald’s admissions to his emotionally draining mother on her death bed. Something is deeply troubling her and this is a kind of ‘clearing of the air’ before she passes on as she hopes for a ‘Good Death’, as it were.

Through the eyes of Oswald the youth, and then Oswald the man with a family of his own, the telling of this tale really does transport you to the 14th Century with ease.

It’s an excellent insight into how his experience as a rather green eighteen year old came to affect his future, as he was catapulted in status from novice monk to Lord of Somershill during The Plague. The expansion of events that took place in his formative years let lose a few unpleasant truth arrows that will wound a few unblemished characters along the way.

The darker moments are perfectly balanced by a little ‘situational humour’ usually drawn from his mother’s obsessive personality traits. One of which is consistently rebuking enduring Oswald, even in times of unending crisis.

I’ve loved this author’s style since the beginning and found it very easy to fall into step with the residents of Somershill and beyond once again. It’s an authentic portrayal of life, death, and a reminder that spectres of the past have a nasty way of coming back to haunt you when you least expect it.

We are back in the 14th century with Oswald de Lacy, now Lord Summershill after his father and his two older brothers succumbed to the plague. He is with his dying mother and confesses to her what happened 30 years ago when he was an 18-year-old novice at Kintham Abbey. Back then, several village girls had disappeared and against the will of the abbot and his mentor, Brother Peter, Oswald investigated. He met the charismatic Maud who seemed to be the only one in the village that is interested in the fate of these women...and Oswald is smitten.
I very much liked Sykes’s “City of Masks” and easily slipped back into her style and plotlines. Interweaving Oswald’s story with his mother’s fading life is a really clever stylistic tool. The plot flows like a serene river, never a needless tangent, always in control, meticulous in its historical context, a flawless execution plus a bucketload of cliffhangers.

PS: At 64%: “And we needed to leave Somershill quickly.” should have read “Stonebrook”
At 92%: “with a gnarled and battlescared veteran” should read “battle-scarred”