A Templar treasure for mystery readers!
An honorable-yet world-weary-Knight Templar solves the mysteries of Medieval England.
After eight years of captivity in the Holy Land, Templar Bascot de Marins escapes with injuries to his body and soul. Now on a sojourn at Lincoln Castle, he hopes to regain his strength, and mend his waning faith-but not even the peace of God's countryside is safe from the mortal crimes of man. For what appears to be the grisly end to a drunken row is in fact a cunning and baffling crime. (Summary from Amazon)
Lately I have been into historical mysteries. It's probably because I love history, because I don't really enjoy contemporary mysteries. It started with Roger the Chapman (which is a series I shall be reviewing once I have all the books) and now I'm here with The Alehouse Murders.
What I liked straight off is that Bascot is not a "pretty". From what I've read so far, the solvers of crimes in the past tend to be monks, nuns, knights (ex or current) or travellers of some kind. They are usually undescribed, so the reader assumes they look normal (whatever that is), but not Bascot. We are told almost right away that he is missing an eye and it's not pretty. He also had a broken ankle that never healed quite right because Middle Ages medicine was garbage. He may not be old but he spent years being held captive and being a slave, so he is quite grizzled.
I also like his servant/surrogate son, Gianni, a boy he found in Italy. Gianni is quite useful in solve this mystery (and probably the others in the rest of the series). He's small and looked over by many people. Gianni also is protective of Bascot, so he makes sure his master is well taken care of.
The other characters in the book, at least two of whom are real people, are fleshed out and are all interesting. We see their points of views a few times throughout the book, which is unusual, but enjoyable.
Onto the actual mystery, in an unsurprising turn of events, there are four dead bodies found in an alehouse. From there, however, nothing is unsurprising. I won't spoil anything, but my word, what a ride. Nothing is as it seems and I found the murderer unpredictable. The best part is that even Bascot wasn't sure what was happening near the end. There are amazing twists and an undeniable sadness that permeates the book, since the murders hit home for many of the characters in the novel.
The history of the era, around 1199 or a bit after, during the early reign of King John, is excellent. The Crusades are still in full swing, England still hates their new King, and politics is always at play. The setting of Lincoln is a new one to me, as these usually take place in London or in larger areas. I like that I can learn more about the area, while trying to solve a mystery. (Side note: I never solve one of the mysteries before the main character does.)
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves historical mysteries and would definetly read the rest of the series. I want to see what happens with Bascot and company while they try to solve more mysteries.
Here is an affiliate link to the book at Amazon, if you want to buy it:
