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Her intimate understanding of the period shines through, (HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW )
Book Description
The Ninth Matthew Bartholomew Chronicle in which the frozen conditions of a bitter winter disguise the real cause of death of a visitor to Cambridge.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The excellent pseudonymal Susanna Gregory returns with her ninth installment of the Mathew Bartholomew chronicles and doesn't disappoint. From the prologue where the messenger Josse's accidental death turns out to be a boon for someone and the death of Norbert, laconic brother of the now retired Sheriff of Cambridge's, Richard Tulet, Gregory settles into her latest mystery with effortless ease, instantly creating a a tuly piscine tale with both plot and scene with that easy familiarity that is her hallmark.
We plunge into a humorous opening with Michael's ridiculous attempts to spy on a Cambridge newcomer, Harysone, based on personal dislike and demanding Matthew declare the man's insanity without actually meeting him before swiftly finding another corpse in Michaelhouse's church. The anticipation of the coming Christmas means that Michael is forced to choose which murder to investigate first and Bartholomew's life is complicated by the return of his once-betrothed - Phillipa Abigny.
Phillipa is drastically changed from the woman who left him to marry the fishmonger and Mayor of London-desiree, Turke and both she and her brother, Giles Abigny arrive to stay at Edith and Stanmore's house.
Murder and mayhem swiftly follow as Christmas sets in, Michaelhouse electing Deynham its twelve day Lord of Misrule. Unlike in Gregory's previous offering up at Ely, the murdered body count is low this time (though the eventaul tally is high after it turns out everyone was culpable to some degree and ends up dying to tie up all the loose ends). There is Norbert, the dead `beggar' in St Michael's is discovered to be Gosslinge, Turke's servant and Turke himself dies suspiciously after literally skating on thin ice. Gregory kills off the old rivermen from preceding novels, Aethelbad and Dunstan as the harsh winter takes its toll (there's more snow that Cambridge has ever seen since!) and we unravle more of the shadowly political dealings that weave through Cambridge.
Amongst it all runs the mysterious Dympna, a charitable organisation that ends up having a sideline, the Chepe Waits (comprising Frith, Makejoy, Jestyn and Dyna) a travelling band of thieving jugglers, the newly arrived and dislikeable Quenhyth, and Ovying hostel gets a thorough runout with its head, Ailred. All of which has both Matthew and Michael scratching their heads at all the clues but unable to make sense of the sequence of events. The key to it all, in a delightful piece of murder mystery irony, is the Fraternity of fishmen and the protagonists relationships to each other.
So, by the time Matthew ends up in a barn having a particularly nasty hayfork jabbed at him during his attempt to free both Michael and Kenyngham we have had a double denouement, the lengthy first answering most of the questions but not all, the second culminating in the fight and the final two culprits racing off with the charitable gold and falling into the icy river. At the end the body count is high (though most of them are a grim justice), Matthew's relationship with Phillipa is resolved (we get the hint somewhat to Mathilde's relief) and the twelve day debacle provides levity throughout.
Right now, there is no better historical murder writer out there. Gregory's style, prose, plot and descriptive writing makes fourteenth century Cambridge immensely plausible, he characters are well crafted and empathic and, above all, the reader is left craving more. A truly fishy tale has been created here and Gregory has done nothing to make her audience even want her to lay down her pen. An author at the height of her literary powers.
We plunge into a humorous opening with Michael's ridiculous attempts to spy on a Cambridge newcomer, Harysone, based on personal dislike and demanding Matthew declare the man's insanity without actually meeting him before swiftly finding another corpse in Michaelhouse's church. The anticipation of the coming Christmas means that Michael is forced to choose which murder to investigate first and Bartholomew's life is complicated by the return of his once-betrothed - Phillipa Abigny.
Phillipa is drastically changed from the woman who left him to marry the fishmonger and Mayor of London-desiree, Turke and both she and her brother, Giles Abigny arrive to stay at Edith and Stanmore's house.
Murder and mayhem swiftly follow as Christmas sets in, Michaelhouse electing Deynham its twelve day Lord of Misrule. Unlike in Gregory's previous offering up at Ely, the murdered body count is low this time (though the eventaul tally is high after it turns out everyone was culpable to some degree and ends up dying to tie up all the loose ends). There is Norbert, the dead `beggar' in St Michael's is discovered to be Gosslinge, Turke's servant and Turke himself dies suspiciously after literally skating on thin ice. Gregory kills off the old rivermen from preceding novels, Aethelbad and Dunstan as the harsh winter takes its toll (there's more snow that Cambridge has ever seen since!) and we unravle more of the shadowly political dealings that weave through Cambridge.
Amongst it all runs the mysterious Dympna, a charitable organisation that ends up having a sideline, the Chepe Waits (comprising Frith, Makejoy, Jestyn and Dyna) a travelling band of thieving jugglers, the newly arrived and dislikeable Quenhyth, and Ovying hostel gets a thorough runout with its head, Ailred. All of which has both Matthew and Michael scratching their heads at all the clues but unable to make sense of the sequence of events. The key to it all, in a delightful piece of murder mystery irony, is the Fraternity of fishmen and the protagonists relationships to each other.
So, by the time Matthew ends up in a barn having a particularly nasty hayfork jabbed at him during his attempt to free both Michael and Kenyngham we have had a double denouement, the lengthy first answering most of the questions but not all, the second culminating in the fight and the final two culprits racing off with the charitable gold and falling into the icy river. At the end the body count is high (though most of them are a grim justice), Matthew's relationship with Phillipa is resolved (we get the hint somewhat to Mathilde's relief) and the twelve day debacle provides levity throughout.
Right now, there is no better historical murder writer out there. Gregory's style, prose, plot and descriptive writing makes fourteenth century Cambridge immensely plausible, he characters are well crafted and empathic and, above all, the reader is left craving more. A truly fishy tale has been created here and Gregory has done nothing to make her audience even want her to lay down her pen. An author at the height of her literary powers.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Chilly though! Matthew, Bartholomew and the whole of Cambridge are caught up in one of the worst winters ever when unexpected visitors from London (and Matthew's past) arrive. Before long the first corpses are found, and once again Matthew and Michael have to investigate.
Gregory captures the atmosphere of a 14th century town very well, and while none of the characters has changed a lot over the 9 novels in the series I've read so far that actually didn't disturb me in the least (probably because the main characters are so well fleshed-out and soon become as familiar as people one knows in the flesh).
Sure, there are some minor flaws (like having a conversation that most have taken at least fifteen minutes while you're caught in freezing water) but what the heck! As soon as the tenth episode is out in paperback I'll be standing in line to buy it.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Susanna Gregory 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.
Her choice of Cambridge as the main backdrop to her books is inspired. It seems to lull the reader into a world of spires and colleges inhabited by the students and academics who teach there. There is also always the underground rumblings of the inhabitants of the city who are constantly at loggerheads with the colleges and hate the students intensely, thinking of them as nothing more than thugs and bully boys.
Christmas is coming and while Matthew Bartholomew's colleagues in the Cambridge colleges are preparing for the festivities, Matthew in his role of physician is struggling to help the poorer citizens through one of the worst winters in living memory.
Matthew however, is given a brief respite from his duties when Brother Michael calls on him to identify a man found dead, probably from the freezing cold in one of the churches. The victim is servant to the husband of Matthew's lost love Philippa. Later, the husband himself is the victim of a tragic accident on treacherous ice. Or, perhaps the death is not the accident everyone supposes it to be . . .
Susanna Gregory has a well proven formula and she sticks to it. Her books are well written, well researched and most of all they are enjoyable to read. I love them.
Her choice of Cambridge as the main backdrop to her books is inspired. It seems to lull the reader into a world of spires and colleges inhabited by the students and academics who teach there. There is also always the underground rumblings of the inhabitants of the city who are constantly at loggerheads with the colleges and hate the students intensely, thinking of them as nothing more than thugs and bully boys.
Christmas is coming and while Matthew Bartholomew's colleagues in the Cambridge colleges are preparing for the festivities, Matthew in his role of physician is struggling to help the poorer citizens through one of the worst winters in living memory.
Matthew however, is given a brief respite from his duties when Brother Michael calls on him to identify a man found dead, probably from the freezing cold in one of the churches. The victim is servant to the husband of Matthew's lost love Philippa. Later, the husband himself is the victim of a tragic accident on treacherous ice. Or, perhaps the death is not the accident everyone supposes it to be . . .
Susanna Gregory has a well proven formula and she sticks to it. Her books are well written, well researched and most of all they are enjoyable to read. I love them.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Gripping!
Yet another fine tome from Gregory. Our two mediaeval sleuths are at it again and, as usual, work it out in the end. Gripping stuff that you will not want to put down.
Published 7 months ago by Riapav
Puzzled
This is the first book I've read by Susanna Gregory and I'm really puzzled how it has received several good reviews. Read more
Published 18 months ago by essexlady
In the bleak Fen winter
Susanna Gregory certainly conveys to us what it was like to be constantly cold in snow-bound Cambridge in the 1300's, where bodies, frozen naturally or 'done to death' occur with... Read more
Published on 22 July 2003
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