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UK Authors - Mystery |
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The Owls of Gloucester |
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 The Owls of Gloucester byEdward Marston Headline 275 pages, 2000 ISBN 0747274096 Reviewed by our UK Editor Rachel A. Hyde This is the tenth outing for those intrepid Domesday Commissioners Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret. As they ride into Gloucester they are hoping for a short and peaceful stay but once again they are disappointed for there has just been a murder at the Abbey. Unpopular rent collector Brother Nicholas has been found murdered by two young novices and naturally they take it upon themselves to find out whodunit. The sheriff is not pleased about this and tries to stop them but they doubt his ability to solve the business satisfactorily. Things are getting interesting anyway. Some say that Brother Nicholas was a wonderful man but it soon appears that he had many secrets. On top of this they also have to find out who is the true owner of a piece of land. Is it belligerent Strang the Dane, haughty Hamelin of Lisieux and his lovely wife Emma, calm Querengar the Breton or the highly useful Abraham, Archdeacon of Gwent? Then there is Golde Delchard’s sister and her husband-to-be to entertain and more besides. Just as the commissioners and their party find plenty to occupy them in Gloucester, so will the readers of this book find plenty to interest them. There isn’t a dull page in this fast-paced story which dashes along like a champion racehorse to its surprising conclusion. In some of the earlier novels, Ralph’s wife Golde did far more than she would realistically have done - helping to investigate the crime and assisting her husband - but here she played a more traditional role. Less politically correct perhaps but a lot more historically correct, which is of greater importance. Marston has a likeable bunch of characters in this series and I look forward to book eleven. |
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