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.