Candle Flame

Where I got the book: review copy provided by the publisher.

This medieval murder mystery, set in 1381, takes us to the restless, dangerous Southwark district of London where a massacre is committed in the Barbican, the ancient keep adjoining the Candle-Flame tavern. John of Gaunt’s poll tax collector, his associates and guard are murdered in a locked room, and a large amount of gold goes missing. As more deaths follow, Brother Athelstan, Dominican friar and coroner’s clerk, is ready to listen to those who connect the murders to popular unrest and the rise of an avenger nicknamed Beowulf, but takes careful note of the other travelers in the inn and of the French threat to London.

This mystery began with a long prologue setting out the show more historical context and continued with a methodical exposition of clues. This will please readers who like to puzzle out a mystery in an orderly manner, but I found the long passages of exposition hard going, particularly as there were few paragraph breaks in the text and the chapters were extremely long. Much local color was provided that was fascinating but failed to advance the plot.

As the story proceeded there was more dialogue and it became easier to read, and by the end I could see the mystery was well plotted and had worked in a great deal of history. Candle Flame will reward the persistent, detail-oriented reader, but for my taste I felt it suffered from overmuch minutiae. show less

Seguimos con el Hermano Athelstan. Bueno pero empieza a repetirse un poco. Siempre crimines en cuartos cerrados y la profunda maldad humana. En una hostería matan a un recaudador de impuestos, en el medio espías franceses, asesinos, amores prohibidos y la revuelta a punto de estallar