Customer Reviews

The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker (Knights Templar)

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There is always two things that you can count on when you pick up a Sir Baldwin Furnshill & Bailiff Simon Puttock West Country mystery: an exquisitely well crafted and cunning murder mystery; and that Michael Jecks has peppered the novel with all kinds of interesting bits of medieval facts and history. This latest Furnshill & Puttock murder mystery, "The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker" takes place during the Christmas festivities of 1321 in the cathedral city of Exeter, and chronicles one of the most chilling and deadliest of cases that Sir Baldwin and Simon Puttock have ever taken on.

One of the many festivities celebrated during the Christmas season, is the election of one of the choristers to be "Bishop" for a day. Discipline is relaxed, and the Boy-Bishop and his friends are given some money, food and allowed to wonder about in the city, and to take part in harmless bits of mischief and mayhem. It is also on this day that leading members of the community are presented with special gem studded gloves to mark their service to Church and city. Both Sir Baldwin and Simon Puttock are to awarded these gloves; and when they first enter the city, they little expect that such a festive and joyous occasion would lead them to cross paths with one of the most ruthless of killers that they will ever come across!

Within hours of their arrival, they are summoned to the cathedral by the Dean. It turns out that the cathedral's glovemaker, Ralph, had been robbed and murdered a few days before. Ralph's apprentice, Elias, had been arrested for the crime mainly because it was Elias's knife that had been used to murder Ralph. Elias of course proclaims his innocence -- not that any one believes him. Now however, a Secondary from the cathedral, Peter Golloc, who had dealt with Ralph in the commissioning of the special gloves (he delivered the money and jewels for the gloves) has been found poisoned. The Coroner of the city cannot help but wonder if perhaps Elias is innocent afterall, and that Peter, and an unknown accomplice, may have robbed and murdered Ralph, with Peter in turn being murdered by his confederate. The Dean is appalled by the Coroner's allegations, and asks Sir Baldwin and Simon to investigate. Both men reluctantly agree since they both believe that the two murders are unconnected. However the more they dig, the more deaths they uncover, and it isn't too long before both men realise that they are after a truly cunning, cold blooded and single-minded killer. Will Sir Baldwin and Simon Puttock be able to successfully unmask the murderer before (s)he strikes again?

"The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker" is a really riveting read, full of twists and turns and red herrings that will keep you guessing until the very end! The novel is a well crafted and well written one, and the level of suspense and tension was well maintained and sustained. I enjoyed this latest Sir Baldwin & Simon Puttock murder mystery immensely, and recommend it as a great read, esp if you are an avid reader of medieval mystery novels. A truly fantastic read!!

Jenks knows how to write and tell a good story that is historically accurate. A really good "whodunit."

First Sentence: The first of the murders which so shook the Cathedral passed with little comment.

Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, and his wife Jeannie, travel to Exeter, meeting up with their friend Bailiff Simon Puttock. The two men have been summoned to receive jeweled gloves in recognition of their service.

They arrive to find Ralph, the glove maker, has been murdered and his apprentice is in jail. Neither Furnshill nor Simon believes he's guilty. When a Secondary at the cathedral dies of poisoning during a service, the city Coroner asks Furnshill and Baldwin to find who's behind the deaths.

Since I'm reading one book each month in this series, I'll be inclined to repeat myself. But some things bear repeating.

From the glossary, through information on the Regulations for the Boy-Bishop at Exeter Cathedral after Bishop Grandisson c 1130 (translated from the Latin by Margaret Cash), the Cast of Characters and the Author's Notes, you know this is a very well researched book and series. But where this could cause a book to be dry, Jecks uses that information to create a strong, rich sense of time and place.

The beginning of the book is wonderfully visual. It is almost as if one is watching a drawing evolve, one detail at a time. Jecks' plots always have a number of threads and twists. In this book, I did feel the ending was very abrupt.

It does take a bit to keep up with the characters at time--hence, the Cast of Characters--but it is so well worth it. One thing I have noticed is that Jecks has changed the character and relationship of the two men, a bit, in a way I don't' particularly care for and the bantering dialogue between them has suffered for it.

However, even for the small flaws, I found myself reading straight through and looking forward to the next book.

I've read each of the Jecks "Templar" books in order, so this is my 10th one and the weakest so far. It is so convoluted, with so many characters milling about, that it's hard to keep track of the multiple plot lines. Jecks also appears to have tried to fit in every detail he'd learned about Cathedral life -- much of it irrelevant to the story.

Of course, it's important for writers to research their subject, but they need to know which material to discard as well as which to include. Jecks piles up minutae until it overwhelms the characterization and plot.

There is a repetitiveness about the book, too, with the main characters going over (and over and over) the same information and questions. He probably could have told the same story in half the length.

I've also noticed that, in the last few books, the focus is placed less and less on the main series characters -- Baldwin and Simon, and their respective families. Having invested so much time in getting to know these protagonists, it's annoying to have them play background roles.

Yes, I'll go on and read number 11, but I'm not sure how many more volumes I'll wade through if things don't improve.

Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace and ex Templar knight and his friend Bailiff Simon Puttock have been summoned to Exeter to receive a prestigious award. Within hours of arriving they find there has been a savage murder and then another person dies a suspicious death, but was it murder or suicide. The Dean and the city Coroner ask the pair to solve the riddles surrounding the deaths. As they dig for the truth they find that many of Exeter's prominent citizens are not what, or who they seem to be. Excellent plots, read them all, you won't regret it.

I'll probabley go back and finish reading it at some point but it didn't grab me in the same way that the previous stories had. I think part of it was that the the sexual tension between baldwin and his wife is gone. They seem to have settled into a comfortable groove and that made it kind of boring. Also I like to have some idea of what's going on but from reading this it seemed so random and I hadn't a clue as to why the man was killed. I must say I was disappointed.