Title: A Moorland Hanging

Author: Michael Jecks

Date Finished: April 18, 2009

Genre: Historical Mystery

First Line: Clambering up the long, shallow gradient to the mass of rock at the summit, the last thing on Thomas Smyth’s mind was the man who was shortly to die.

Summery – taken from the back cover:

Cold-blooded murder has transformed Simon Puttock’s official obligation into something horrid – and he will need the able assistance of his friend, Sir Baldwin Funshill, to draw a criminal out. A former Knight Templar, Sir Baldwin knows much of duty and servitude – and of evil freely indulged in the name of godliness or greed. Now justice must be served, even if their search exposes extortion, foul corruption, rule by fear . . . and killers willing – even eager – to shed more blood.

Review: This is the third book in this series and the fourth that I have read (I read something like the twentieth first when I got it from my wife, thank you baby, and got hooked.) That said I am fairly familiar with the main characters now and they did not disappoint. Simon and Baldwin were both they’re usual interesting selves, though we do get to see Simon take on a bit more of a leadership role as this mystery is his investigation. I find that both characters are interesting for what they do, Simon is a bailiff (not like the guy who stands in the court room to enforce order) and Baldwin is a knight, keeper of the king’s peace (sort of freelance sheriff) and former knight templar. Both characters are also deep and well rounded; Jecks does a very good job of giving them a breadth of emotion and thoughtfulness. Hugh, Simon’s servant, is as grumpy as ever and Edgar, Baldwin’s man-at-arms is stoic and ever watchful.

As much as I like the characters, it is the history that draws me in and Jecks does not disappoint. In this story we learn about tinners (those who mine for tin) and about their rights and place in society. We also learn more about knights and their villeins (the villagers/farmers who owe their allegiance to the knight.) One of the great things about Jecks is he doesn’t hit you over the head with the history, he always finds a way to have the important concepts explained by the characters that isn’t contrived or forced. Jecks has a very easy to read style that doesn’t detract from the story.

The plot, itself, was not bad. I did feel that we, through the characters, were dealt a few too many switch backs. By the end I felt we were running around in circles trying to find the killer. While the eventual culprit turned out to be believable, I did feel that the reader may have had to rely a little too much on guessing rather than clues to solve it. Overall a really good read if you like historical mystery.

Have a comment? Read Jecks? Have a recommendation for something else? Let me know what you think.

End of Event Meme

1. Surprisingly not the hour I stopped in. I think it was the hour I napped in, not sure if that was 21 or 22 now but I really was having problems then.

2. Not really, I know it was never interest in my books that caused me to waver, and I know that every ones interest are so different.

3. No suggestions from here, things went pretty well for me and thank you to all the organizers, mini-challenge hosters and cheer leaders.

4. I think stopping to look at the updates and mini-challenges worked really well, it gives you a chance to recharge every hour or so.

5.&6. I read 3 books: A Moorland Hanging, The Credition Killings, and The Abbots Gibbet, all by Michael Jecks.

7. Tough call, as they are sequentially part of the same series. Probably, from the Read-a-thon perspective I enjoyed The Credition Killings the most because I read it all the way through yesterday.

8. Again a tough call for the same reason. If I look at it from the Read-a-thon perspective A Moorland Hanging was very unsatisfying yesterday because I only had 5 pages left.

9. N/A

10. Very likely, I'd still probably be a reader.

All good things...

After 21.5 hours I think I'm done. I am unable to keep my eyes open so I'm off to bed, good luck to the rest of you. I did read 23 more pages to bring my final total to 501 pages.

Hanging in there

Well my page totals are drifting downward, only 14 this time bringing my total up to 478. I am trying to hang in there. It's only 3 more hours right, should be able to do that easily.

Power nap

Ouch, only made 21 pages and had to squeeze in a 1/2 hour power nap. That brings the total to 464, but I'm not sure at this point I have a lot of reading power left.

1 down at almost 18 hours

I finished The Credition Killings, overall a pretty good book, maybe tomorrow I'll post a review (not sure I'm up to it now). Starting to fade a little bit, more burning eyes than anything else. Just to keep up the stats 57 pages since last post bringing me to a total of 443 pages. Now it's back to The Abbots Gibbet also by Jecks.

At least I'm almost finished my book

Well my hockey team lost and then about 10 minutes after that my drivers lost (though they did come in 3rd & 4th which really isn't bad out of 43 drivers). I only managed 26 pages to bring me to 376 total. 56 pages to go in this book, though. So at least something is looking up.

Stop the Reading Madness Challenge

I chose to do the accents game and discovered I'm not nearly as good at this as I thought. I don't do well at non-english language accents, so I guess I don't feel too bad about getting most of those wrong (though the Lithuanian Lady really sounded British to me). My problem with the english language accents was I kept second guessing myself. 'Well we already did an English one so maybe this one's Irish even though it sounds English'

Entering the climax

My book is really getting good, I think we'll find the killer shortly (I think I have it figured out this time). And my driver and team are both winning (at least when I came to blog). 38 pages this time, bringing me to 350 (and only 83 to go in my book.) Still going strong, but I'm thinking it may be time for some chips soon. (Going to save the pecan-cinnamon rolls I picked up with the supper subs until I need a sugar rush later)

Creativity Challenge

Crediton Killings
Bailiff and Knight must answer
no happy endings

Dang it's hard to follow Nascar and read

Well the race has started (and I guess the hockey game as I write this) and I'm finding at least the reading is going smoothly even if I'm not entirely sure what's going on in the race. With the TV on mute and looking up every couple of minutes I'm only getting snapshots, but, hey, reading is the priority here. :) Read 44 pages this go round, bringing the grand total to 312 pages. That feels a little light 13 hours to me, but I guess I was out for a almost 45 mins getting supper, plus my breaks to blog. I'm just going to have to pick up my pace a bit.

Mid event Survey

1. The Crediton Killings by Michael Jecks
2. Finished A Moorland Hanging, and that's it so far.
3. I guess I'm most looking forward to finishing my first complete book.
4. No special arrangements, we moved some chores we would normally do today to tomorrow (if we're awake:))
5. The dog needing to go out is pretty minor. (No fence so I need to take him on a leash) Other than that just running out to get supper which was needed.
6. My biggest surprise is how easy it's been to keep reading, I haven't really needed breaks or anything to keep motivated
7. No suggestions, it's going pretty well for me so far.
8. Not entirely sure what I'd do differently, maybe start off in a better place than bed (to easy to let those eyes sag that early in the morning)
9. No, not really all that tired yet.
10. No suggestions from me, I know what works for me probably won't work for many because so far I've been able to stay focused on the same book, in really the same position for hours.

Almost at the 1/2 way point

At 11.75 hours and moving right along. I'm a little doubtful I'll finish 2 books as I had hoped, but that wouldn't bother me too much. I read 31 pages since last update (but I also walked to the mall to get supper Torpedos from Quizno's). The book is still holding my interest, the challenge for the next few hours is going to be reading while flipping between Nascar in Phoenix and the hockey game (Go Flames Go).

Ears Or Tail?

Here I am at 9.5 hours. Still going pretty strong, 53 pages again this time, bringing my grand total up to 237. Becoming deeply immersed in my mystery and trying to navigate my way through the multiple threads. Ate about 1/2 of my 400g chocolate easter bunny (that means I ate about a 1/2 pound of chocolate for those non-metricites out there). My wife brought up an interesting question what is proper chocolate bunny etiquette? Do you start with the ears or the tail? In my family it was always the ears. How about you?

7.5 down and going strong

Finished up lunch and still motoring through. Since my last post I've read another 54 pages bringing my total up to 184 so far today. This has carried me about a 3rd of the way into The Crediton Killings by Jecks. As ussual I like Simon the baillif and Sir Baldwin and there interaction is great. Also being a bit of a history buff, I like that this is set in 1300's. So we'll see where this one is going.

Picking up some steam

Well this time round things are moving a bit more smoothly. I'm awake and reading my books in the correct order. 53 pages this time round bringing me to 130 total. At about 5.5 hours I've managed somewhere close to 4.5 hours of reading. Looking for some lunch shortly, pretzel nachos :)

You're going the wrong way

So as I told you in my last post, I was reading The Abbot's Gibbett, thinking it was the next book in my series. I get to page 45 and, surprise, there is a footnote refering to the events in The Credition Killings. When I looked in the front of each book it listed the other as having come before. Oh well, at least my page total has improved. For this stretch I read 43 pages (not bad for switching books) bringing my grand total to 77 pages in 3 hours of reading (with the one very short nap) :)

Introduction Meme

I am reading from my home in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The books in my TBR pile are A Moorland Hanging by Michael Jecks (already finished), The Abbot's Gibbet by Jecks, The Credition Killings by Jecks, Night Mare by Piers Anthony, The Celts, and The Top 60 Since 1967 by The Hockey News.
3 facts about me: I am studying to be a CGA (Certified General Accountant), I collect turtles, I work for Hockey Canada.
My goals for the readathon are to make it the full 24 hours (if you saw my 1.5 hour post you'll see I could be in tough on this one) and to finish 2 books (other than A Moorland Hanging, 5 pages just doesn't count)

Readathon 1.5 hours in

Not off to the best of starts. I've managed only 34 pages so far (I did finish my first book, but I only had 5 pages left in A Moorland Hanging by Michael Jecks). I've moved on to the next book in the series The Abbot's Gibbet. I also nodded off at one point, my wife said how can you make it 24 hours if you can't even make 90 minutes. Hopefully I'll pick up my pace a bit and keep the eyes open.

Well, here we are just under 45 minutes from readathon. Just finished some breakfast (yum, mini-wheats) and now taking care of some facebook stuff so it won't distract me later. Can't wait to get going.

Welcome to my first attempt at blogging. I will be taking part in the 24 hour read-athon: http://24hourreadathon.com/ .

As such I will be blogging about what I'm reading. Guess we'll see how that goes. Not positive what I'll be reading yet, probably some Michael Jecks, Maybe some Jack Whyte, might even mix in a bit of the Celtic history book I haven't found time to get to yet. You'll just have to stay tuned to find out.