Death and the Chapman

First “Roger the Chapman” medieval mystery series set in 1470’s England. I’ve been waiting awhile to read this book and must say it’s worth the wait. It’s one of the best first-person POV books I’ve read in a long time. In this book, we meet a young Roger as he leaves the Abbey of Glastonbury, a former novice monk, now a traveling chapman or peddler. His first destination is the city of Bristol, where he meets the cook and housekeeper of a local Alderman who introduces him to his first mystery, a young man of the house who disappeared in London a few months ago. Well-written, with interesting historical detail and an episode in history that I also encountered in Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour, but with a show more decidedly different twist. More! More! A+ show less

Protagonist: Roger the Chapman, a wandering peddler
Setting: 15th-century England
Series: #1

First Line: "In the year of our Lord 1522 I am an old man."

Told as the first of many stories by an old man, Death and the Chapman tells of the very first mystery Roger the Chapman stumbled into and how it whetted his appetite for more. In 1471, he had just left a monastery, bought the goods of a retiring chapman (peddler) and found himself walking into Bristol. Chance finds him in the home of Alderman Weaver, whose son disappeared outside the Crossed Hands Inn in London. Liking the look of young Roger, the alderman asks for his help in finding out what happened to his son if Roger should find himself in London. Several months later, Roger is in show more Canterbury and learns that two other men from that city also disappeared outside the very same London inn. Not liking the coincidence one bit, Roger decides to walk to London and see if he can figure all these disappearances out.

The whodunit was rather easy to figure out, but I enjoyed the character of Roger and the portrayal of the times so much that I'll be looking for others in this series. show less

Goed pakkend verhaal, met aandacht voor de tijd. Het boek werd verteld in de 'ik' vorm, iets waar ik zelf niet zo'n fan van ben. In dit geval verteld Roger, de 'ik', het verhaal tegen het einde van zijn leven, en blikt steeds terug.

De personages waren goed uitgelicht, het verhaal duidelijk, en de historische feiten zijn goed belicht.

Voor mij was het al vrij snel duidelijk wie de moordenaar(s) waren, toch eindigde het boek vrij verrassend.

Dit boek is zeker de moeite van het lezen waard, zelfs zoveel jaar na het uitkomen.

With all due respect for Kate Sedley's work and the time and effort she put into writing this book, I struggled to finish it. I love mystery novels and I am in love and have read extensively on Europe's 15th century lifestyle. But this book was slow and boring.

I liked the character of Roger and seeing 15th century London for the first time through his eyes, although his sudden decision to find the truth seemed to come a little out of nowhere. In terms of the murder plot, one of the reason why I picked up this book, there wasn't ’t much going on.

The descriptions, although beautiful, were too lengthy and too many in between, slowing down the pace of the story. The dialogue was often too wordy. Although I am not versed in English history show more I enjoyed other historical fiction novels set in this part of the world. "The Death and the Chapman", however, made the history of English rulers the least interesting and even more confusing. On this regard, I often felt like reading a history school manual.

I picked up this book because it was featured on a list of best historical mysteries. I thought that the 1000 reviews on Amazon were a good sign. I was disappointed. I was surprised to discover that it was a Harper Collins publication. show less

Pretty good medieval mystery. Roger doesn't want to stay home in Wells and become a stone carver like his father so he gets a back and becomes a traveling peddler or chapman. On his travels who learns about some people who suddenly never to be seen again disappeared in London. Roger promises the father of a missing young man that he will look into it when he gets to London. Adventures follow.

This is the tale of Roger the Chapman, which means traveling salesman. A good candidate for a detective who meets many different sorts of folk in a time when most people never met anyone outside their own village. This book is set in the 1400s, England. The author attempts to give the historical and cultural setting for the characters and does a passable job. I say passable, because at times it seemed more as if I were being given a history lesson. I am not enough of a scholar to know whether all the facts were accurate or not. This book was readable, the writing style was fine, but I did not enjoy the first person narrative, that may just be my own preference. Also, the mystery was given away much too early. I'm sorry to say that I show more couldn't really engage or care about any of the characters. Still, if you enjoy historical mysteries, and don't mind sexual episodes and some (very little) crude language, you might enjoy this book. show less

La posada siniestra da inicio a la serie de novelas de misterio protagonizada por Roger Chapman un monje inglés que a finales del siglo XV cuelga los hábitos para recorrer los caminos como buhonero. En su primer viaje recibe alojamiento en casa de un concejal de Bristol cuyo hijo ha desaparecido.
Movido por su insaciable curiosidad, Chapman emprende una investigación, todas las pistas apuntan a una misteriosa posada de Londres, donde, como averiguará, son ya varios los desaparecidos.