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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
an excellent mystery novel, September 10, 2007
This review is from: The Alehouse Murders (Templar Knight Mysteries, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
The first installment, in what I really do hope will be a long running series, "The Alehouse Murders" was a treat to read from the first page to the last -- riveting and full of wonderful period atmosphere and nuances, I spent a happy few hours satisfactorily glued to the pages. They were hours well spent.
When news that four murdered bodies have been found in an alehouse reaches Nicolaa de la Haye, the castellan of the castle, she immediately knows that she must see to it that the murders must be investigated swiftly and competently. After all the midsummer's fair is about to take place and gossip that there is a mad killer loose in the city of Lincoln will not help Lincoln's reputation at all. And so the lady turns to Templar Bascot de Marins for help in discovering who murdered these unfortunates and why.
Held captive by the Saracens for eight years, de Marins has returned to England broken in body and spirit. Plagued with self doubts and afraid that he has lost his faith, de Marins had hoped to regain his faith and purpose in Lincoln. But would investigating a horrific murder help him rediscover his faith? Determined to ferret out the truth, de Marins soon finds himself enmeshed in the middle of the family intrigues and quarrels of a local landowner's family, and confronted with the cold blooded determination and ruthlessness of a very single-minded killer...
While I could go on and on raving about Maureen Ash's ability to colour her novel with
fantastic period detail, and how her characters ring true in tone and type, what I really enjoyed about this novel was how the author was able to keep me guessing for quite a while. And that is no mean feat! What really carries this novel through though, and what makes it so very readable and absorbing is the sympathetic central character, de Marins, and how Maureen Ash was able to successfully convey all of de Marins self doubts and pain, as well as intelligence and integrity. De Marins angst made a nice counterpoint to the mystery and gave the book a deeper and more complex tone. Riveting and compelling, "The Alehouse Murders" was a wonderful read, and one that I would recommend for anyone looking for a good medieval-era mystery novel to read.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Decent historical fiction for the muder mystery lover, October 13, 2007
This review is from: The Alehouse Murders (Templar Knight Mysteries, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
I generally don't read narrative prose, but I do love a good murder mystery especially the classic "who-dunnit" type. Although I'm not inclined to read historical types because they are often very pedantic--they bluntly try to "teach" you about the author's beloved period of history--I've run into authors who can very skillfully do so: Van Gulik (Judge Dee, for which see: Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An) (Detective Stories), The Chinese Gold Murders: A Judge Dee Detective Story (Judge Dee Mysteries), and The Chinese Bell Murders: A Judge Dee Detective Story), Ellis Peters (Brother Cadfael, for which see: A Morbid Taste for Bones: The First Chronicle of Brother Cadfael, and One Corpse Too Many: The Second Chronicle of Brother Cadfael) and Candace Robb (Owen Archer, for which see: A Gift of Sanctuary: The Sixth Owen Archer Mystery (Owen Archer Mysteries)and The Nun's Tale: An Owen Archer Mystery). Now I am delighted to find that Maureen Ash is another.
Ash's character, a Templar Knight named Sir Bascot de Marins, is a combination Owen Archer-Brother Cadfael. The disillusioned member of the Templar order of fighting brothers, de Marins is an individual looking for meaning in a world filled with violence, inequity, and unfairness. He is a handsome sort, a perfect, sensitive kind of guy, with the exception of those crucial "flaws" that make men so dear to the women who love and empathize with them. He lacks an eye, damaged by his captors during a lengthy sojourn as a slave in the Holy Land, and suffers a weak ankle sustained in an escape from a pirate ship where he was a galley slave. If nothing else one knows he's a survivor.
The setting, like two of the above, is Norman-Angevin England and the dynasty established by William the conqueror and his immediate successors. The period for this particular series is the time of "wicked" King John--Ever wonder what became of good old Robin Hood after wicked Prince John gained the throne?--and the author is probably pretty accurate in her assessment of the unease of the nobility over the shifting political scene. Some of the characters are historic ones, and the author has used selected resources for her background material.
The book The Alehouse Murders is very cleverly written. The author follows the "rules" of the game, especially that which insists that the end not be a distortion of the plot to "fix" a faulty story line. Even though you can probably figure out who did the deed by the end, the clues come from throughout the context of the story; they aren't just introduced at the end to prevent you form forming an opinion.
Though the story seems to drag in places as the author tries to create the atmosphere of the period, it was still a good read. In stories of this type the key to a successful series is in the personalities of the central, recurring characters, ie are they arresting enough to bring you back for more. Their strengths and foibles--think of the "little grey cells" and the moustache/paten-leather shoes!--are what make them memorable to and engaging for the reader.
Of all the characters in this book, I think that Nicolaa de la Haye and her husband Sheriff Gerard Camville are among the most real to me. This is probably due to the fact that they are balanced--the personality of one against that of the other, and their privileges in society with their obligations to it. I had almost wished that these more peripheral entities would take a more active part in the investigation. In part because I liked them, but mostly because I could see the Templar becoming a maudlin romantic hero full of angst in the future, his case of arrested development based on the need to keep the reader involved with his turmoil. I could see the Knight becoming much like Inspector Jury in the Martha Grimes' series (for which see: The Old Fox Deceiv'd, and The Old Wine Shades (Richard Jury Novels)), where his side-kick, Melrose Plant, is so much more entertaining, self aware, and good humored, and Aunt Agatha a wonderful foil for Plant. Some may enjoy that kind of tormented hero character, but I can't help thinking, "get counseling, fella; you've got a problem." (Maybe it's the nurse in me.)
While I didn't care for them as people--I don't suppose I was expected to do so--I found the de Kyme family in its many branches was very illustrative of the reality of the time. The trappings of knighthood, the castles, and fairs, etc. of Medieval England tend to create a mental image of vastness and power, something alien and foreign to modern life. In fact one needs to think in terms of farmers, some more successful than others, who owe the king a debt of military service. Some of the farmers are large land holders with well run establishments, others are barely making it, just like many farmers today. Some of the Medieval farmers were vastly wealthy and had large palisaded manor homes or even castles; others lived in houses hardly much better than the "hired hands" on the farm. The distances aren't/weren't vast; the communications of the period just made them seem so. If some of the farmers could afford the fancy trappings of knighthood, some of it came by way of creditors--as illustrated in the story--just as a modern combine or other equipment, and some of it came by way of the fact that most of the rest of the population had to be content with almost nothing. The de Kymes' situations makes this more visible for the reader.
A good start to an interesting series.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ash helps us make it through the Knight!, April 18, 2008
This review is from: The Alehouse Murders (Templar Knight Mysteries, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
There seems to be no shortage of medieval/historical mysteries. Thank goodness, as it's quite a popular genre and one that has merits of its own.
"The Alehouse Murders" is a first novel by Maureen Ash and features Bascot de Marins, recently returned from the Crusades with the Templar Knights. The world-weary (and physically depleted) knight with his worldly knowledge and background looks to re-build himself, body and soul, following the grueling, decimating Crusades. And what more exciting profession should he turn to but that of sleuth! He's been gone for eight long years and, naturally, is a bit rusty. He settles down in Lincoln in the year 1200 and mid-summer activities are in full bloom. Alas, the pastoral side of Lincoln isn't to last, for, ironically, four bodies are found in a local alehouse and with complicated complications, ever-spiraling associations, and convoluted avenues which Bacot must pursue, the book takes off with a rapid, yet steady pace. Ash has complete control of the plot development, never leaving the reader dangling (or even confused). This is not to say that the story line isn't complicated. It is, but Ash keeps it in a controlled fashion. Her powers of description and episode easily carry the book, traits that most readers will applaud.
Bascot is quite an interesting man, of course, reminiscent of later fictional sleuths and heros and Ash gives us a good foundation for him and his character, noble, sensitive, intelligent, indeed, that he is. A second Knights Templar mystery by her ("Death of a Squire") is already on the shelf and, hopefully, this will become another of the successful historical mystery series. It's a good read!
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