Customer Reviews

A Wicked Deed (The fifth chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew)

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In this installment, Matthew and Michael find themselves on the road in another county. They are to be taking a new priest from Cambridge to this county to become parish priest, but before they get there they are attacked by footpads, see someone hanging on a tree, and find one of their party murdered. Just a typical trip for these two dastardly heros. This is a great book like all her books. Ms. Gregory mixes history and mystery so well, it's more like a web than a novel. I find this series every bit as enjoyable as the Wonderful Brother Cadfael.

I have joined the throng of devoted fans of this author in general and this series in particular. Those who loved Ellis Peters' Cadfael mysteries, will find some of the same elements present here. Gregory's books are hard to put down and the humorous elements in this particular one had me laughing out loud. The ending was a bit muddled, I felt, and perhaps a bit far-fetched, but the book is well worth the read whether you like the ending or not. I have only recently discovered Gregory's medieval series, but this will not be my last one to read. I intend to read all of this series and then start on her other series'. Don't miss this one! It's a winner!

A WICKED DEED (Hist. Mys-Matthew Bartholomew-England-1353) - VG
Gregory, Susanna - 5th in series
Time Warner Books, 1999, Paperback - ISBN: 0751525448

First Sentence: Twigs slashed at Alice Qui's fact and arms as she raced through the undergrowth, certain that the dog that chased her would bring her down at any moment.

Matthew Bartholomew, a doctor of medicine, and a group of scholars, priests and students travel to Grundisburgh. The parish church is being gifted to the Michaelhouse, Cambridge as a living gift so they are on their way to conduct the legal transfer and leave behind, Unwin as the new priest.

Along the way they come across a hanged man whose last word is "padfoot." Once in Grundisburgh, Brother Unwin is murdered in the church where he was to be priest. Matthew discovers this is not the first suspicious death; nor is it the last.

I really enjoy this series. Gregory pays great attention to the historical accuracy of the events of the period. I was fascinated by the state of medicine during the period. She creates great dimensional characters with very real and human interaction and relationships. The dialogue is not of the period, thank heaven, but doesn't throw me out of the story.

I did feel the story was a bit overlong, but certainly held my attention and was an, interesting and entertaining read. Highly recommended.

Susanna Gregory is the pseudonym of a Cambridge academic who was previously a coroner's officer. Her series of mediaeval mysteries have gained a formidable following. This book is the fifth in the series and introduces the physician Matthew Bartholomew to the reader. There are now a number of books in the series and they are always eagerly awaited by the author's fans.

Besides practising medicine Matthew is also a teacher at a Cambridge University and his sometimes unorthodox treatment of his patients draws accusations of heresy from his more traditional, but less skilled colleagues.

Matthew Bartholomew fellow of Michaelhouse college, and doctor of medicine is taking a journey to Suffolk with other members of the college. They are travelling to accept the gift of the living of a parish in Suffolk, where one of their companions Unwin, is to be installed as priest. They reach their destination with some relief after being beset by a number of incidents.

Their hope that they can relax a little having arrived at their destination is short lived, as they are soon drawn into a dispute between local landowners, but worse is to happen. Unwin their travelling companion and the new priest of the church is found murdered and it is not the first time that an unnatural death has struck the village . . .

Susanna Gregory's series featuring physician Matthew Bartholomew just keeps getting better and better. In the fifth book of the series, A Wicked Deed, Gregory makes some significant changes to the life at the university in Cambridge in the year 1353. As in her previous works, the specter of the plague looms in the background like a stalker hiding in the shadows ready to pounce on an already devastated Europe.

Matthew is part of an entourage that travels from Cambridge to the idyllic village of Grundisburgh, where a lord has promised a lucrative gift of the church to the university. On the way, they find a man hanging from a gibbet and he's still alive. They cut him down but despite Matt's valiant effort he dies. Then a wrong turn takes the group through Barchester, a small hamlet that has been abandoned after the Black Death claimed nearly all of its inhabitants. But the ghosts of the dead aren't the only ones haunting the spooky village. A white dog prowls the woods and the locals in the surrounding communities are convinced that anyone who lays eyes on it will dies shortly after. Two villagers are already dead.

Once arriving at Grundisburgh, the benevolent lord Sir Thomas Tuddenham seems very eager that the deed turning the church over to Cambridge be completed as soon as possible. Almost immediately after arrival, the student-priest who is to become the church's priest is found murdered.

All of a sudden, the beautiful peaceful serenity of Grundisburgh is surrounded by sinister forces and subterfuge, which are trying to delay the completion of the advowson. Cambridge Senior Proctor Richard Alcote does not appear to be in any rush to finish writing the document. Matt does not think that the greedy, opportunistic Alcote's reasons are in the best interests of the University. More likely, he is trying to figure out how to line his own pockets.

Then a witness with a potential valuable clue to the murder is found with her throat cut. The primes suspect in both murders disappears. With one disaster after another, Matthew and his friar friend Michael are very eager to put as much distance between them and Grundisburgh as possible before they end up like Unwin, the murdered student-priest.

As with other historical writers, Gregory focuses on one or two interesting aspects of life during the time period of her work. It's what helps keep the series fresh and from becoming monotonous or too similar. In A Wicked Deed, Matt meets de Stoate, a man with similar interests in medicine as he, and the landlord of the inn where the Cambridge entourage are staying. He is very proud of his own concoctions that he claims keeps the villagers healthy. Both men have very strong opinions about their abilities to heal people, formulate medicines and make scientific progress, much to Matthew's horror. Gregory's novel gives us a peek into the superstitions and alchemical environment and knowledge in the fourteenth century. Some of the recipes were described in disgustingly vivid details. Not only does Gregory bring the monastic living to life but also the gruesome reality of health care in the 1300's. In the twenty-first century age of advanced medicine and sophisticated instrumentation, it's a stark reminder of the difficulties the people of medieval times had to endure and the lengths they had to go through to try to warding off diseases and other maladies.

Gregory also spins a very complex plot that stymies Matt's abilities, but he manages to unravel a twisted web of greed, lies and murder in the quaint village. It's an intriguing story that's difficult to put down.

Engrossing addition to Susan Gregory's series. Kept thinking it sounded familiar. It was. I read it about a year ago.