Michael Jecks - The Templar's Penance

Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock are on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compestela, after Baldwin unwittingly killed an innocent man.  Other pilgrims are there also, to pray to the saint for forgiveness, each with their different reasons, and all of them are under suspicion after a beautiful girl is raped, battered and murdered, and an old man who was once a Templar is stabbed.


My rating: 7/10

I'm pretty biased when it comes to medieval mysteries, I guess my interest was piqued by early reads, either the slushy romantic historic fiction I used to read, or (as I like to hope) by Alanna Knight's The Dagger in the Crown, the first piece of fiction I reviewed on Amazon.  Then I got into Bernard Knight, and the Crowner John series.  The Templar's Penance has all the ingredients I like; a jigsaw puzzle gradually put together; the detectives going down blind alleys; action and violence (if not too graphic); human characters with all their foibles.  Strange that, as Ripley's Angel is pretty straightforward (apart from the characters!), but I guess my other weakness is comedy crime.  If I had a criticism, this book is overlong, with Baldwin and Simon retracing their steps far too often.  Kept me reading though, but as I say, I'm biased.

Next: Susanna Gregory - The Hand of Justice