by Paul Doherty
Release Date: December 3, 2024
2024 Severn House
Ebook ARC; 224 Pages
ISBN: 978-1448313105
ASIN: B0D6YYBCHD
Genre: Fiction / Historical / Mystery
Source: Review copy from publisher
4 / 5 Stars
Summary
Normandy, 1358: The Free Company of the
'Via Crucis - the Way of the Cross' sweeps into the peaceful village of
Avranches, like the riders from the Apocalypse, leaving nothing but
death and hellish destruction in their wake.
London, 1382: Brother Athelstan is summoned to unpick the ugly truth behind a number of killings afflicting the great city. Some carried out like clean, efficient assassinations, all bearing the message 'Justitia Fiat - let there be justice', others inflicting torture and humiliation upon the bodies. But the victims all have one thing in common - they were all once members of Via Crucis.
With every new gruesome discovery, Brother Athelstan, with the help of Coroner Cranston, uncovers more clues which make up a most complicated riddle - but can he put together the last piece before the fate of the whole country is decided?
London, 1382: Brother Athelstan is summoned to unpick the ugly truth behind a number of killings afflicting the great city. Some carried out like clean, efficient assassinations, all bearing the message 'Justitia Fiat - let there be justice', others inflicting torture and humiliation upon the bodies. But the victims all have one thing in common - they were all once members of Via Crucis.
With every new gruesome discovery, Brother Athelstan, with the help of Coroner Cranston, uncovers more clues which make up a most complicated riddle - but can he put together the last piece before the fate of the whole country is decided?
My Thoughts
Murder's Snare is the next book in the long-running Brother Athelstan mystery series and I impressed with the way the author can still come up with a mesmerizing mystery that really embodies the time period. This is actually a multi-layered story with several solutions to different plots all leading to the main plot at the end of the book, but in which all the plots are interconnected. Just when you think you have things figured out, the author throws in some twists and turns that make you question your thinking. And even though I did figure out who the culprit was pretty early on, there were times I was questioning my main choice although I did not quite figure out some of the secondary plots.
Brother Athelstan is the priest of St. Erconwald's, a church located in the more salubrious section of London, and his constituents tend to largely flirt with the law. Brother Athelstan is quite aware of the activities of his flock, but manages to reign in their activities as much as possible and the humour that is exhibited through these tales is quite interesting and the author manages to describe quite a bit of life during this time period through these characters. Athelstan also works for coroner Sir John Cranston, so when there is a crime to investigate, he is often caught up in those circumstances as well. Because this the twenty-third book of this series, I don't think there is a lot of character development for these characters, so a lot of the attention was on the secondary characters which suited me just fine.
For a shorter book, the mystery itself was actually quite complex and rather interesting. I had just finished a non-fiction book about this time period, so it was fascinating to follow that book with this one and immerse myself in the time period through the eyes of the characters. To say ti was a brutal time period doesn't go far enough, but there was also warmth and loyalty as well. All the plot threads do interconnect so you have to pay attention to everything that is discussed, and there is even some deeper political intrigue happening below the actual murder mysteries, something I was expecting to happen at some point considering the political climate of the time period. There is a wide array of characters and the author doesn't waste time reacquainting readers with familiar ones, so I was glad I had read all the previous books in the series. I did find the mystery itself quite fascinating as I love it when there are consequences for actions that happen in one's past that impact one's present and you can't just brush it off with 'it was war'.
Verdict
Murder's Snare was a fairly fast-moving mystery that had layers upon layers of mysteries within it. Part of this could be frustrating, but in a good way, as you had no idea which thread the main characters were following or solving, and the author was great at including twists and turns that made you keep guessing. I loved the descriptions of the time period and often felt like I was walking beside Brother Athelstan as he was walking down the streets and seeing what he was seeing, reminding me of how comfortable we are in this modern world. I highly recommend this series if you love historical mysteries and want to immerse yourself in world full of strife and political intrigue.
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