Ghostly Murders: The Priest's Tale of Mystery and Murder As He Goes on Pilgrimage from London to Canterbury [Hardcover]

P. C. Doherty (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

It's the 14th century, and once again a pilgrim in a group traveling the long, hard road to Canterbury is telling a story to enliven the evenings (A Tapestry of Murders, 1996, etc.). The narrator this time is the Poor Priest, whose tale begins in 1308 when the Knights Templar, a religious order once powerful, now in disgrace, flee their London headquarters, hoping to reach passage to France. They meet a dreadful end in the woods and marshes of Kent, near Scawsby, a rumored treasure disappearing with them. Seventy years later, brother priests Philip and Edmund Trumpington are assigned to Scawsby's St. Oswald's Church, bringing with them old friend and master mason Stephen Merkle. Their plan is to build another church nearby, moving more recent burials to a new graveyard. But Philip soon discovers the reason for the short stays of previous pastors: the church and its environs are haunted big-timewith visions, voices, apparitions, and deaths, all seemingly to do with the long-gone Templars and buried riches. Philip is driven to make his own hard-won discoveries, involving an unexpected treasure, a trip to London, and a surprising source of treachery. One of the author's neat twists ends this fourth in the series, but confusion reigns in a morass of quirky characters, digging forays, voices from the dead, eerie confrontations, and endless bloody killings. Unlikely to appeal to readers not enthralled with ghost stories or the history of the period. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312194188
• ISBN-13: 978-0312194185
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,389,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping tale told in a delightfully frighful manner!, July 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ghostly Murders: The Priest's Tale of Mystery and Murder As He Goes on Pilgrimage from London to Canterbury (Hardcover)

If you're not a fan of the Canterbury Tales, it doesn't matter! The pilgrims on their way from London to Canterbury are brought vividly to life in this fourth book of the series by P.C. Doherty. I COULD NOT put it down! It is a must-read for any ghost-story connoisseur. The pilgrims are passing a deserted English village called Scawsbury on the wild marshes of Kent. This particular tale, the priests' tale, involves the village in its heydey before the plague. It is a tale involving murder, vengeful ghosts, curses and a treasure. A warning: this is most definately not a book for someone who cannot handle ghost stories! If you don't fit that bill (and I most certainly do not), I heartily recommend this book for a night you are home alone and in search of a hair-raising good read! Enjoy!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doherty Gets the Spirit in "Ghostly Murders"!, May 23, 1999

By 

Billy J. Hobbs "Bill Hobbs" (Tyler, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghostly Murders: The Priest's Tale of Mystery and Murder As He Goes on Pilgrimage from London to Canterbury (Hardcover)

It's a pilgrimage you won't want to miss! P.C. Doherty adds one more pilgrim's tale in "Ghostly Murders" to the three previously published and in this series the author definitely makes the literary journey worthwhile. Doherty's entourage is the same 31 that Geoffrey Chaucer assembled in Southwark in London in "The Canterbury Tales" who are on their pilgrimage to pay respects to the martyred St. Thomas a Becket at his shrine in Canterbury in 1389. From one's own British literature knowledge, the reader knows that each member is required to tell four tales, two going and two returning. In this series of mysteries, Doherty portrays the travelers much as Chaucer originally did and it is amusing reading to discover how he weaves Chaucer into this modern day re-telling. Of course, Chaucer died before all 124 tales could be "told," and so perhaps this is Doherty's way of completing the series. Doherty does not write in rhyming couplets and his narrative prose moves much more quickly; after all, Chaucer set out to tell his tales and each was required to possess a moral. Doherty doesn't seem quite so obsessed. A fifth tale by Doherty, however, has not appeared. In "Ghostly Murders" ("The Poor Priest's tale of mystery and murder as he goes on pilgrimage from London to Canterbury"), the author features Father Philip, who, along with his brother Edmund, has just been assigned his first parish in the village of Scawsby in Kent. That village has held a long, and evil, mystery dealing with the Knights Templars, a holy relic, rumors of lost treasure, evil incarnate, and, of course, a murder or two. By the end of the book, Father Philip "had learned a great deal, in his short stay at Scawsby, about good and evil, about the human will and the need to repair what was broken, for man to answer for what he did." This is quite an interesting series. Doherty writes under other names as well: Michael Clynes, Paul Harding, Anna Apostolou, to name three. Where he has time to be head-master of a school in London is beyond this reader, but we're glad he makes the time to write his books--they're all worth the read!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Medieval Mayhem and Murder, August 31, 2000

By 

Kenri A. Mugleston - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghostly Murders: The Priest's Tale of Mystery and Murder As He Goes on Pilgrimage from London to Canterbury (Hardcover)

If you like murder mysteries as well as historical fiction, then you are in for a treat. Mr. Doherty knows the medieval period and uses it to good advantage. This is a takeoff of Chaucer's Canterbury tales where all the members of the party tell a story. This is the Story told by the Priest. It is a tale of treachery, greed and ghosts. This novel was wonderfully done and quite enjoyable.