Customer Reviews

Veil of Lies: A Medieval Noir

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read a lot of mysteries, and devour historical mysteries as fast as they come out. I have a lot of tolerance for even mediocre examples of the genre, simply because the combination of two my favorite forms of reading -- history and mystery -- makes it irresistible. The idea of a "degraded" knight as the protagonist was also intriguing (although in England, as of 1793, there had only been three of these extremely rare creatures).

But -- the first chapter of this book was so bad and so badly written that I could barely battle my way through to subsequent ones. And I eventually gave up halfway through because I found that I didn't particularly care about Crispin or his fate.

For starters, there is the bad writing. As one reviewer noted, the opening sentence sets the tone for the book - the London rain that is thicker and harsher than country rain. Then we have our protagonist feeling at "little trill in his belly". (Does the author mean thrill? chill? A trill is a musical term, most often used to refer to the sound made by a bird; never used to describe a sensation -- although perhaps Crispin's belly was singing?) Then there are the lengths she goes to in order to avoid ordinary words like "walked" -- someeone "trudged out", someone else "strode" to the door. Any word except the ordinary one -- a hallmark of overly-florid writing. The mood shifts of the wealthy merchant who has summoned Crispin to help him discover whether his wife is cheating on him are astounding -- he is agitated, then his face hardens -- and suddenly he is in tears. Then he starts to hiss angrily. Finally he smiles apologetically. It would be one thing if we had Crispin noting these mood shifts as being unconvincing -- it would pique the reader's curiosity, at least.

Finally comes the clincher: the merchant (who oddly, after summoning Crispin, has to introduce himself to the former knight), presents him with a miniature of his wife. Miniatures in the form the author describes didn't exist for another century or so in Europe (and even in Persia, they took different forms.) The only miniatures that were readily available were those inscribed within the capital letters of manuscripts by the monks who crafted them, and sometimes would use the face of a patron as the basis for a saint's image, or simply include the image to honor them. This is a complete anachronism.

This is only the first chapter. By then, I had lost a lot of interest in the book, I confess, and my irritation with it had grown significantly with each page I turned. Any single flaw -- the self-conscious & uneven writing, the problems with character, the anachronisms -- could have been overcome. But chapter after chapter, all three persisted until I ended up flinging the book against a wall and consigning it to perdition. There are still enough good medieval mysteries out there that I don't have to put up with something third-rate.

Yes, this may sound harsh, but I'm not being particularly picky here. I will give an author a free pass on awkward writing and or plot wobbliness if he or she is able to grab my attention and hold it. It's not a high threshold, but the author didn't meet it. The writing felt strained, the plot was paper thin, and everywhere her efforts to craft a story showed through.

I hate writing a negative review, but when I have spent several hours trying to read something that I dislike so much, when I could have devoted that time to something better...

I loved this story. I used to read a lot more mysteries than I have lately, finding many wanting. This is the first time in a few years that I was sorry to reach the last page of a mystery novel. The author's prose is elegant without being stilted, historical without being fussy. Her characters are fascinating. I really enjoyed the glimpse into common life in the Medieval era, and the use of a religious relic as a driving force in the book was very clever. It also had a surprise-filled plot that still made sense. I'm looking forward to the next book, which I'll also probably finish before I want to reach the end.

Set in 1384, London, Crispin Guest was formerly a knight and protégé of the Duke of Lancaster, but was stripped of his title and lands--everything, when embroiled in a treasonous plot against the young King Richard II. Now he scrapes by, hiring himself out as a Tracker, a finder of people and items. He's hired by a reclusive merchant to find out if his wife is unfaithful, a case he only takes out of desperation. The merchant is found murdered the next day, in a locked room. Crispin's sense of justice impels him to continue to investigate the murder. In the meantime, the merchant's wife wants him to find a hidden holy relic that she fears and dislikes and wants removed from the house.

The mystery twists and turns, from the classic locked-room to foreign agents and crime syndicates, ancient conspiracies and forgeries, theft of taxes, secret identities, and much more, without being too unbelievable or needlessly complex. Crispin, as a former knight who has seen battle and commanded men, is able to hold his own on the rough streets of London with its cut-purses and thugs and riotous citizens. There is action as he fights for his life or merely gets roughed up by the Lord Sheriff and his men. And there is some love-interest in the merchant's beautiful wife.

Crispin's past makes for an intriguing character. He is learned and quotes philosophers, he also knows the powerful in the land, even though he cannot make contact because of the association with treason. He's had eight years to familiarize himself with the streets of London, so he's a rare creature of disparate worlds.

I enjoyed reading this book and will greatly look forward to any sequels.

A terrific read! Fans of mystery fiction, crime fiction, historical novels and rousing good adventure stories in general, will all enjoy Jeri Westerson's engaging first novel. Vivid, believable characters draw you into a medieval world so vibrantly real it's like watching the History Channel, only better. A cleverly plotted whodunnit is merely the cherry on the sundae. I can't wait for the next book...Author Cornelia Read's advance praise labels VEIL OF LIES A "Knight to Remember", hence this review title, and it is a turn of phrase well and truly earned. Writer Julia Spencer-Fleming terms it "an utterly beguiling alchemy of Canterbury and Connelly." Me, I just kept flipping pages as fast as I could. And so will you.

I was very disappointed in this book, because, as has been stated by others, the premise of this book is intriguing. Unfortunately, the cast and characters do not live up to the book's promise.

Almost every character in the book changes his personality as often as a chameleon changes colors. Sometimes the characters change from scene to scene, sometimes they change within the scene. Character change in itself is not bad, in fact, even desired; but there should be some motivation or reason that the character is acting the way he does. And at least some characters should be consistent in their personality and behavior. The only character who is even slightly consistent is Jack, who I did appreciate as somewhat of a constant, although he was a bit too stereotypical to become a really strong character.

Crispin is the biggest disappointment. As a disgraced knight, he feels lost between the two worlds outside him--the world of the privileged class and the opposing world of the serving class. As readers, we should be offered an inside view of how being accepted in neither world creates contradictory feelings warring inside Crispin. That is one of the joys of fiction--to get inside someone else's skin and view the world from his eyes, feel the emotions and thoughts he is feeling. Instead, the reader is given a superficial, almost "politically correct" comment, here and there, and nothing more. As a reader, I felt I did not know Crispin any better at the end of the story than I did at the beginning.

I also think that labeling this "a medieval noir" is a misleading. Because the author compares herself to Raymond Chandler, I expected some of his wisecracking tone and wry comments. Crispin Guest, however, cracks very few jokes, and when he does, they fall rather flat.

While the plot moves along quickly and is full of action, it is a bit convoluted, with some loose ends which are left dangling at the end. There is plenty of tense mooments in the story, but because I had little empathy for Crispin, I really didn't care too much what happened to him, which more or less, dilutes the tension

Unfortunately, the over wrought writing style distracts from the story, rather than adds to it, so that by the end of the novel I found it more pleasant to skim the passages which were overwritten, or which had lost point of view.

This story was mildly interesting, and I am glad I read it for the premise alone, but I won't make an effort to read the sequel.

#1 Crispin Guest "medieval noir" mystery set in 1380's England. Crispin is a fallen knight, set to be hung for being part of a treasonous plot against Richard II. He was given a last-minute reprieve; his life was spared, but he was stripped of lands, property and title and now makes a living on the mean streets of London, living hand to mouth and shunned by those of his former class. Known as 'the Tracker,' he investigates, finds things, tracks people down and cobbles together a bleak living with tiny living quarters above a tinker's shop. Despite his fall from grace, Crispin has little sympathy for those of the lower classes that he's now forced to hobnob with, and still believes he is above them, and of a better class.

It's now eight years after his disgrace. When Crispin is asked by a wealthy cloth merchant to follow his wife and find out if she's cheating on him, he takes the case though it's only his empty pockets that make him do so. When he returns to report the wife's infidelity and collect payment, Crispin finds Nicholas Walcote dead--murdered by stabbing. The local sheriff is called in, and as in most private eye cases, bumbles through, making headway only by listening to Crispin's observations. When the widow--whom Crispin learns was once a chambermaid before marrying her master--wants to hire him to find a religious relic that her husband was said to have hidden, he is reluctant, but a fat coin purse persuades him otherwise--and he is intrigued by Mrs. Walcote, as well. Eventually links are shown to international trade sabotage and a plot against the government.

I really enjoyed this book--the writing style was easy to read, the characters very interesting, and even though Crispin could be somewhat of a butthead at times, I ultimately liked him too. Lots of great historical detail--sometimes even a bit too much...I am not terribly interested in fashion, whether it be modern or historical, and this book did have a lot of descriptions of the clothing, which I admit to sometimes skimming a bit. Otherwise--great!

A very entertaining read. Ms. Westerson has taken the Raymond Chandler noir detective idea of a detective-knight with his own quixotic but unshakable moral code and a weakness for damsels in distress quite literally. Crispin Guest really is a disgraced knight, stripped of all rank and privilege because of crossing King Richard II. Now living on the margins of society, Crispin keeps himself from starving (barely) by working as a Tracker--usually of lost goods--and constantly running afoul of the law. But this time he becomes embroiled in unraveling a baffling murder.

This is a two-fisted story like any great noir, with a love interest and great puzzles to solve. All the characters have their dark sides. Crispin is an interesting protagonist and I particularly like that the author has not tried to make him a politically correct modern man in Medieval clothing. He's a man of the 14th century, and his attitudes are those of someone from the upper class being forced to consort with the lower orders. Yet, Ms. Westerson still makes Crispin a likable hero.

My sister recommended this to me because she knew I'd liked the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries and the Matthew Shardlake mysteries. And in fact this book does have a similar feel, being (a) in England and (b) in a pre-technology time. Really, although these three series are centuries apart, there is little to differentiate the settings and environment. It hews closer to the St. Cyr mysteries in that it's a private affair; Shardlake's mysteries always seem to be political/religious.

I found the story interesting, although I found the writing a bit off. I find this a lot when a female author has a male protagonist. The character's internal commentary (whether it's monologues or narrative) often comes across as too feminine. Our man Crispin Guest (and yes, I kept thinking of him as Christopher Guest in his Nigel Tufnel guise) catches a glimpse of a beautiful woman's bared breasts and later finds himself thinking poetically about the "sinewy woman." This really doesn't scan, especially with his character having been drawn as a bit of a brute.

Other times, dialogue is written, and in the following paragraph we read the speaker is shouting in anger, whereas up to that point it does not appear to have been an argument. It is an abrupt jump from what appears to be a person just talking, and then finding out that person was angry and yelling. I felt as though an important paragraph between had been excised, and this happened three or four times in the book.

Lastly, and I realize this is tough to do in a book full of male characters, the name 'Crispin' is simply used too often. There are many times when "he" or "the Tracker" could have been used, or when no real distinction needs to be made because the person in question is obviously Crispin...but there were a few scenes where it was just overdone. I counted a page with 11 'Crispins' on it, followed by a page with 9 of them. Too much.

In short, I think this series will continue to be a library read for me, not a series for purchase. I highly recommend the Matthew Shardlake mysteries by C. J. Sansom for readers interested in the Henry VIII period and the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries by C. S. Harris for those interested in the Regency period. Those are both 'series for purchase' for me.

Veil of Lies is a fourteenth Century tale told with Chandleresque pacing. Author Jeri Westerson centered her intriguing tale about former knight, Crispin Guest, who earns a meager living as a tracker (think private detective with a dagger). The story is replete with damsels in distress, court intrigue, holy relics, and a man's honor.

The period detail is neither boring nor scholastic, with just enough pictures painted to set the stage for sword fights and dungeons and scurvy knaves. The dialogue is just contemporary enough to give you an occasional laugh, right before you hastily turn the page, because this is a page-turner.

Crispin Guest is hired by a merchant to follow his beautiful, young wife. The wife seems up to no good, then the husband is found murdered in a locked room in the fortress like home of the rich merchant. And the wife isn't a highborn lady. She had been in service in the home before marrying the man.

Then the mystery of the veil comes to light. It's a holy relic that seems to cast a spell over anyone in its presence, forcing them to tell the truth. But sometimes the truth can be a problem. Secrets abound. Truths are revealed. And Crispin Guest confronts his own prejudices.

A great tale, well told. The plot could have taken place in a 1930s Noir movie or in an episode of Magnum P.I. A good story is still a good story. This one just happens to have wonderful atmosphere and situations that only a former knight could experience.

Loved every page.

First, Medieval Noir is slightly "off" as just about Everything at that time was "Noir" (dark). When I started reading I felt like I was thrown into the middle of a story and didn't know WHAT was going on, but the author cleverly weaved the main characters' past into his present and by the end of the book, you almost knew all. Almost, but not quite - his reasons for committing a crime against the king didn't ring true, even though he kept saying he did it for "England"! (Reminds me of the Regency Mother's who told their daughters to "Close your Eyes and think of England! :) ).
The story itself was full of action, a sealed room, murders, Italians, Sheriff, the King's Men, and more. If you enjoy Medieval mysteries you'll enjoy this. If you want the actual "smell" & depth of this time period, you'll need P.C. Doherty or Ellis Peters.