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UK Authors - Mystery |
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The Bone-pedlar |
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 The Bone-pedlar bySylvian Hamilton Orion Books 264 pages, October 2000 ISBN 0752832603 Reviewed by our UK Editor Rachel A. Hyde Mix the irreverent comedy of Susanna Gregory with the supernatural horrors of P.C. Doherty and what do you get? The Bone-Pedlar by Sylvian Hamilton, the first in a new series that promises to be interesting. Sir Richard Straccan is an ex-Crusader who sells relics. He also recovers ones that have been stolen and looks for new ones. It’s a profitable but rather dangerous job when he is asked by the Prioress of Holystone (half-sister to King John) to find out the identity of a man who came to her priory in extremis with a valuable relic. Now Straccan has to find out whodunit. But when his young daughter is kidnapped, things begin to turn ugly. There's the lot in this simmering cauldron of a novel: cannibals, magic, mysterious beings from a lost city in the desert, black and white magic and more besides. This book is many things but certainly not boring. What tends to rather spoil an otherwise good story is the anachronistic comedy, particularly prevalent at the beginning of the story before things turn more serious. The more the characters assume a relatively modern vernacular with dropped aitches and much wisecracking, the farther away the story seems from the Middle Ages. Once the tale gets into its stride, much of this vanishes and the book finds a more suitable voice. The Bone-pedlar is more of an adventure than a whodunit – nothing wrong with that – as the crime is easy to guess and the denouement no real surprise. It is an exciting and entertaining story throughout, and with the misplaced comedy ironed out, this truly ought to be a series to watch out for. |
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