Ian Morson (1) (1947–)

This was definitely an interesting read, and a fairly clever way to introduce new readers to the series characters of 6 historical mystery writers. For the most part, I enjoyed this, though the reasoning for a supposed holy relic from Jerusalem continuing to float around England for 500 years is tenuous, at best.

The plot is exactly as it says on the tin. The "tainted relic" is supposed to be a splinter from the True Cross, stained with Holy Blood. A curse was put on it when the family of its show more keeper was slain during the First Crusade. Barzak proclaimed that anyone who handled the sacred piece of wood would die once it left that person's possession. This novel follows the relic as it travels from the Holy Lan,d to France, and then on to England, from 1100 AD to the 1600s.

Each author contributes a self-contained "Act" to the story. The Prologue is by Simon Beaufort and features the knight, Geoffrey Mappstone, who is present in the Holy Land and writes the certificate of authenticity for the relic. The unusual deaths start right away, and this was a very good setup for the story to come.

Act 1, set in 1194 in Devonshire, features Sir John de Wolfe, who served as a coroner in medieval England (Bernard Knight). While nicely written and a good overview of his series and characters, I didn't enjoy this introduction to de Wolfe. The idea of adventures of one of the first coroners to hold the office was enticing, but de Wolfe is selfish and mean, IMO. I'm not sure I'd seek out this series.

Act 2, set in 1269 in Oxford, features the Falconer, penned by Ian Morson. The relic has come into the hands of monks who are dying pretty gruesome deaths, which the academic William Falconer sets out to solve. I enjoyed this section a lot, and quickly warmed to the characters here.

Act 3, set in 1323 in Lincolnshire, features former Knight Templar Sir Baldwin and is written by Michael Jeck. Perhaps surprisingly, this was perhaps my favorite act of the book - the plot moves at a fairly quick pace, and features a series of strange deaths, the aftereffects of which ripple through the town. It has a rather wry twist ending, too. I've tried and failed with the first book in Jeck's series featuring this character, but perhaps it is worth revisiting.

Act 4, set in 1353 Cambridge, features Susanna Gregory's series characters Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael of Michaelhouse, as the relic passes from a character in the previous act through the hands of several here, leading to a trail of improbable deaths. I found this act to be way too long, the plot too convoluted, and I actively disliked Bartholomew for most of it. Given my history with this character and this author, perhaps this is no surprise, but it was disappointing nonetheless. Gregory piles twist upon twist at the end, basically to prove that she can.

Act 5, set in 1600s London, is narrated by Nick Revill, one of the actors at Shakespeare's Globe Theater during the Elizabethan age. This is the only first person narration in the book, and I take it that this is a feature in Phillip Gooden's series. Revill is sent by Shakespeare into the depths of St Bartholomew's Fair to retrieve an early edition of a drawer play, but Nick and his friends stumble into more than they bargain for when the bookseller produces the ancient relic and its curse instead. The trio find him dead less than a hour later and are accused of committing the crime. This one has the most unusual solution of all, I'd wager.

There is a postscript epilogue at the end, also by Bernard Knight, in which the relic is unearthed from the mud of the Thames in 2005 by a construction worker who is working on the Millennium Dome. It is quite the fitting ending to this story, honestly, as the curse of the relic lives on.

I see that this group of writers has pooled together for 9 more books in a similar vein, and I'd definitely read more of these. I'm likely to seek out some of these series on their own as well, so overall, I'd say it's a win-win for me! show less

Falconer's Crusade is a pretty pallid attempt at historical crime fiction. Set in 13th century Oxford, during the Second Barons' War, it follows the university master William Falconer as he attempts to solve the murder of a young woman. Morson seems to confuse bundles of quirks and unusual characteristics with three-dimensional characterisation. There is no inner life to Falconer or his new student Thomas, and the murder mystery isn't complex enough to compensate for that deficiency.

Perhaps show more for those with only a slight interest in medieval history, the setting will be enough to appeal, but this medievalist found it weakly drawn and with more than a couple of moments that made me say "... huh?" A book is central to the mystery here, for example, but I'm not sure how any of the characters could have recognised what it was so quickly as it would surely have been written in Occitan. I also wish people would stop with the whole "medieval people thought the world was flat!" idea, because it's second in frustrating misapprehensions only to "the early medieval period was a Dark Age." show less

This is a pretty short mystery to read through. Looks can be deceiving though. Despite being short, it’s packed in with some heavy duty stuff.

The setting for example. Very rich in detail and gives you a sense on how it was back then in William Falconer’s time. Add in some political intrigue, a Jewish Quarter, and some rioting and it gets pretty exciting. I really can’t get over how great the setting is. It’s so descriptive you can feel the darkness and the dampness that permeates show more throughout the novel. Morson also does an excellent job to stay close to historical accuracy here in this novel as well. Forensic pathology is frowned upon, and you even get to see Falconer try on a strange contraption that looks a lot like Medieval opera glasses at the time. :)

The plot is pretty straight forward although there is not much of a secret mystery element in it. The suspect list is not extensive (thankfully! You’ll see why as you read further into this review) and when revealed it’s not much of a surprise or an a ha! Moment. There isn’t much personality to the characters except Falconer and his student Thomas. Thomas is a particular dolt. A Farmer boy who managed to be gifted and chosen to study and be a Scholar, well, for all the idiotic moves he makes, you have to wonder how the University chose this guy to let him attend their school. He fumbles and stumbles at the worst times and always manages to get himself into some life threatening situations (and doesn’t learn from it). It was funny the first few times, but after a while it gets annoying and you want to slap this boy upside the head. (You don’t deserve Hannah’s attention, you twit).

I’m going to assume it will get better with other books in this series, and this one serves as an introduction to the series. Since I really do love the historical aspect I will stick with this series and see where it takes me. Historical mystery lovers will love the setting and theme of this book, the mystery part, not so much. show less

I actually listened to the audio download version of this book, which I can't find the database anywhere. But this is the same book, so here we go. The Medieval Murderers is a combination of five historical mystery authors—Michael Jecks, Ian Morson, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Philip Gooden and Simon Beaufort—yes, that’s six, but Beaufort is actually the same person as Susanna Gregory who has a different series. Each write a short story about their sleuth as a cursed relic (a show more piece of the “true cross” of Christ) crosses their path leaving murder and mayhem in its’ wake. I wasn’t sure if I’d like this setup or not, but I actually really enjoyed it. A couple of the authors I’d never encountered before, and particularly liked the writing style of Ian Morson, enough to seek out the first in his Falconer series. I’m not particularly fond of Michael Jecks—at least, the one book of his I’ve read I wasn’t wild about, but I’m going to give him another try—but it came off okay in the audio version; it was my least favorite of the stories though. Two of my favorite sleuths were included—Bernard Knight’s Crowner John de Wolfe and Susanna Gregory’s Matthew Bartholomew.

The reader for the book was excellent, using many different voices and accents over the course of the story. I have a couple of these combination books on my TBR pile in print—we’ll see if the stories are as appealing that way as this one was in the audio version. Some of the later ones cobble different authors into the mix. Well done and quite enjoyable, it didn’t seem like it was a 15-hour listen! A. show less