The Mansions of Murder

Paul Doherty immerses Brother Athelstan in The Mansions of Murder in which the theft of a jeweled treasure on its way from the French to the English disappears eighteen years back. King Richard's London coroner, Sir John Cranston had captained the ship carrying the treasure. Now Brother Athelstan finds the story of the treasure emerging in his parish as a parishioner dies and the corpses of her relatives are found. The dead had been archers on the ship of the treasure. The struggle is on between the forces of order with Brother Athelstan and the Coronoer and a criminal gang anxious to acquire the treasure. Bodies pile up, threats surface. Whodunit?

‘A bubbling broth of murder, theft, blasphemy and sacrilege.’!

Once again Doherty plunged me into the colorful firmament of medieval London of 1381. The starkness of an age where danger encroaches from every side is vividly portrayed. Doherty's descriptions of the hanging fields and the dark depths of the London alleyways are worthy of an Hieronymus Bosch painting. London Hades is a fitting title given the area where the action takes place.
This time Athelstan and his friend Sir John Cranston, Lord High Coroner of London, otherwise known as ‘Sir Jack,’ are enmeshed in the dark doings of the gangs of London.
Simon Makepeace, the 'Flesher', leader of 'London’s most vicious and notorious [gang, the] rifflers', an abhorrent person as his moniker surmises, and his minions are unstoppable, backed as they are by Lord Arundel. When the bodies of a priest, Parson Reynaud, and two others are discovered mysteriously slain within the church of St Benet's, the Flesher's mother's body stolen from her coffin, and the Flesher's treasure taken from the church's iron-bound strongbox, Athelstan is pressed into service.
Things appear to harken back to when the Twelve Apostles (wonderful gem stones) in their Rose Casket were stolen from the King's barge some eighteen years ago. They were never seen again. The French are taking a keen interest.
Meanwhile another mystery linked to a recent death and a strange discovery in Athelstan's parish of St Erconwald’s sits patiently in Athelstan's mind.
Court politics as always are always lurking in the background.
A mystery that once again puzzles and delights. I did not see the ending coming until the full disclosure was given.

A NetGalley ARC

Brother Athelstan and Cranston Are In the Thick of Murder, Theft, and Treason Right In London

This is the 18th novel in the Brother Athelstan Medieval Mystery Series, and the second that I have read. The novel opens in a seedy part of London that is filthy, smelly and run by a master criminal known as the Flesher. In a local church, a priest and a military man in the service of the Earl of Arundel were found each with a single stab wound to the heart and no sight of a struggle, the corpse of the Flesher’s mother, whose coffin was locked up in in the church the previous evening was missing and replaced with a ransom note, and a vault that requires two keys, one in the priest’s possession and the other in Flesher’s possession, was open and empty. Brother Athelstan and Cranston, Lord High Coroner of London, investigate. The main storyline takes off from here with the situation becoming much more complex as the Flesher’s ties to this church and its cemetery become revealed. The events of 18 years earlier when Cranston was in charge of ferrying some precious jewels, known as the Twelve Apostles, and their container, known as the Rose Casket, were stolen, and Cranston almost lost his life.

The B-storyline is very rich as the reader learns more about Cranston’s life and how it was affected by the events of 18 years earlier. The relationship between the man of violence, Cranston, and the man of the cloth, Athelstan, is so comfortable with each other and share very personal aspects of their lives with each other. These two characters became more real to me as I read this novel.

There are not any explicit sex scenes but some implied sex. The expletives are all medieval equivalents, so there should not be any problems for persons sensitive to foul language. Descriptive violence is described, and some as it occurs. In my opinion it is not excessive and is just reflective of the time. There is much use of medieval terms. I recommend reading this novel on a Kindle with easy access to the Kindle’s dictionary and searching the Internet. I used both routinely. Lastly, while this is the 18th novel in this series, I did not find anything that depended upon the previous novels, so first time readers should not shy away from reading this novel first.

Use of Medieval words while providing much authenticity and period flavor to the story did take up time searching for the meaning of these words. One distractor for me was the first part the novel that consisted of Cranston describing the events of 18 years earlier in discussion with Athelstan. All of this information was very important to the development of the storyline, but, for me, it was slow, and my interest wondered.

While I only reward novels with high star ratings when they capture and maintain my interest throughout the novel. As mentioned above, there was a significant part of the novel during which this was not true. On the positive side, the depiction of medieval London using the terms of the age was so enjoyable that in my opinion makes up for this issue. I give this novel a five star rating. If you read this series, it is a must. If you have not, this novel should be a good introduction into the series.

I have received a free kindle version of this novel through NetGalley from Severn House with a request for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank Severn House for the opportunity to read this novel early.

Terrific historical fiction! I'd not read Doherty before so I was unfamiliar with his well researched and carefully plotted medieval mysteries. What a treat then to discover Brother Athelstan and his friends, who ably investigation a murder in a locked church in 1381 England. Talk about pre-CSI! Very entertaining , especially if you're looking for a different take on the procedural. Or would it be a cozy? This defies conventional genre not only because of the setting and time frame but also because of the characters. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.