Customer Reviews

The Hand of Justice (Matthew Bartholomew Chronicles)

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Pseudonymal Susanna Gregory's tenth Matthew Bartholomew mystery is as brilliant as the previous nine. The mark of a good mystery author is the ability to confound the audience every time. The majority of authors, like any good crossword setter tends to evidence similar sleuthing patterns so familiarity leads to quick diagnosis from the reader. Not from Gregory whose mind manages to twist the reader deviously through the maze that is fourteenth century Cambridge with a verve that is truly remarkable.
The latest also introduces a new link as the prologue to the last effort which found Josse dead in a snow drift actually proves a key link to the mystery contained within this novel. Very neat. There is also continuity of mystery in the re-appearance of Rob Thorpe and Edward Mortimer, two ruffians who were the culprits in an even earlier novel and the influence of the Hand, that non-relic that Michael and Matt revealed as previously attached to the simpleton, Peterkin Starre in another novel. So, not just continuity of time and character, but also of mysteries. However, it does not mean you have to have read the previous novels but does add another touch of delight to those who have.
So...more murders...more mystery and lots of canonical and secular intrigue. The story opens with the drunken Thomas Mortimer (owner of the Mortimer Mill) killing Lenne and maiming Isnard. Swiftly followed by the deaths in the King's Mill of the Gonville scholar, Bottisham, and the wealthy grocer (and King's Mill patron) Deschalers who are located by Matt and Michael with nails driven through their palate and crushed in the water mill.
More characters come to Cambridge. The introduction of Gonville Hall allows a new physician, Rougham, its Master, Pulham, and several others. The return of Rob and Edward (who have received a King's Pardon for their crimes) to do mischief is tied into the feud between the Mortimer Mill which has turned its hand to fulling, and the King's Mill. The intercession of a King's Commission to rule on the two mills raises the Cambridge temperature considerably. On one side we have the Mortimer clan, legally represented by Gonville, on the other a merchant conglomerate comprising Mayor Morice, Cheney the spice merchant, Bernarde the Miller, Lavenham the apothecary (and his voluptuous wife, Isobel) and the dead Deschalers. Meanwhile, in Michaelhouse, three of Matt's students take more of a starring role, Redmeadow, Quenhyth and Denyman and the key cast list is rounded off with Master Warde of Valence Marie, the new physician Paxtone, Wynewyk, Tulyet and Tynkell (whose physiology proves a mystery in itself).
Three deaths are swiftly followed by the murder of Bosel the Beggar and the arrival of the addled Bess whom Matilde takes under her Frail Sisters wing. By the time Lavenham's workplace goes up in flames Gregory's death count hits twelve (via henbane most of the time as we eventually discover) as Warde, Bess, Lavenham, Isobel, Bernarde, Rob Thorpe, Edward Mortimer, Thomas Mortimer, Mistress Lenne (natural causes in a startling turn) all wind up dead.
During the book , Matt allows himself to get diverted by a brewing personal feud with Rougham, who is clearly imcompetent, who thinks Matt has a secretum secretorum - a panacea - and we get steered down the wrong path through Michael and Matt several times until one very bedraggled fake rat acts as Matt's epiphany. By the end we have our single culprit, discover the motives were all different and there was no conspiracy and Matt has a wealth of new books to keep him company whilst Michael continues to eat his way through Cambridge.
Gregory has added another fine achievement to her Chronicles and it is all the more remarkable as the majority of key players are based on historical reality. Her grasp of medieval Cambridge is excellent, the narrative is gripping, the plots endless but controlled and there is a vibrancy throughout that makes this series an absolute must read for any fan of the genre.
More needs to come from the pen of this fine author.

I know that historical fiction is not usually at the top of the best seller lists and I guess that it is not really a subject that appeals to the mainstream book reading public, but if ever an author deserved best sellers Susanna Gregory is certainly one of them.

She is not as prolific a writer as many of the authors who write this style of book and the anticipation of waiting for a new title can be quite frustrating for the reader. However the wait is always worthwhile.

I am not sure whether it is Matthew Bartholomew himself, or the setting of Cambridge in the mid-fourteenth century but Miss Gregory's books seem to carry an aura all of their own. Certainly for me and hopefully for other readers as well.

Cambridge 1355, the townspeople and the students of Cambridge are as always at one another's throats. Although the students bring status and wealth to the City the people of Cambridge still consider them louts and trouble makers.

The tension has increased with the return to the City of two well-born murderers. They have been released by none other than the King himself, after he deemed that a Royal pardon was appropriate. The pair are showing no remorse whatsoever and are more than ready to confront the citizens who helped in their conviction in the first place.

In the middle of all this Bartholomew is called to a local mill where two corpses have been found. Is there a connection between the bodies and the release of the murderers. Is anything that simple in 14th century Cambridge.

I am a huge fan of the Matthew Bartholomew series set in Cambridge, England in the mid 1300's. Ms. Gregory is an historian and she builds her books around true historical happenings and she includes real people in them. And there is always lots of suspense for the reader that seeks this in a medieval mystery. Ms. Gregory always uses particularly ruthless villains, and great numbers of people die before Matt and his wonderful friend Broither Michael can solve the mystery. These books are so authentic, and so much fun to read! This particular one illustrates the volatile nature of relations between "town" and "gown" in Cambridge. Another riot is never far away! I highly recommend this seires.

#10 Matthew Bartholomew medieval mystery in which the Cambridge scholar/physician becomes the official Corpse Examiner for the University, specifically for Brother Michael, the senior proctor. More physicians have come to Cambridge, easing the pressure on Matt so he no longer needs to run here and there treating everyone and struggle to do his teaching at Michaelhouse college. A war is heating up in Cambridge--aside from the usual "town and gown" conflicts, there are rival mills vying for business. When two bodies are found mangled in the wheels of one of them, it's believed at first to be a horrible accident, but Matt in his role as corpse examiner finds that each body has a nail rammed into the mouth and up into the brain, which was the cause of death.

The two were locked in the mill and there was no one else there, so how did they die? Matt and Michael both are convinced that two young men who had been convicted of murder but received a pardon from the King and were released have something to do with it--but how to accuse them without being charged with treason themselves--for surely to question the King's judgment is treason. Before long, other bodies and attempted attacks muddy the waters further as the author takes us on another long and convoluted trek through medieval Cambridge with all the political and religious posturing.

Truly, these books seem to get longer and more twisty with each one, and I find myself skimming some parts because they just get off track and too wordy. I love the characters and the author's sense of place and time, but they could easily be at least a hundred pages shorter (each is about 500 pages of small print) without losing any of the story.

I have always enjoyed the Matthew Bartholomew series and this one does not disappoint.