The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker

Medieval historical fiction, a whodunnit and set in Exeter? Three of my favourite things, so of course I picked it up.

The place-setting is nice, but the characters are thin and unengaging. Much is made of the complexities of Cathedral life amongst the various Canons and Vicars, but it never really leads anywhere. This isn't Trollope. The plot development revolves around exposition at the end of each scene, where an unexpected character suddenly lets slip a vital clue in an aside before slipping behind the curtain. Over and over again. The murderer reveals themself in the end just by being the only character left whom they haven't already murdered.

In the middle there is a Star Wars joke. Really? It was wearing thin by that point, but to show more have it reduced to that level of tired fanservice?

I'd expected better. show less

When a glovemaker is found murdered, everybody assumes his apprentice was the culprit, especially as some jewellery and cash has also gone missing. But then the bodies start piling up. The dean of Exeter cathedral asks Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Simon Puttock to investigate, but why isn't he relying on local law enforcement?

The first couple of chapters were quite overwhelming - there were just so many characters being introduced before we met the ones we knew. I did manage to work out the culprit just before the reveal scene and it was a fun mystery but Simon didn't really have much to do in this one. They used to have a more equal partnership, while now Simon seems to have been demoted to sidekick.

I have virtually all of Jecks' works. I am new to Library Things so am not going to go into great detail except to say that he has given me many hours of reading pleasure and largley give him 5 stars. Although it has been some years since I found one of the later stories, I was, at the time, prompted to find the first in the series, etc. It is grand that both his former publisher and his new publisher (Simon & Schuster UK) are republishing his books in print and other formats. I have given Jecks 5 star reviews over the years since I stumbled on to him. As to his research, historically it is from primary sources wherein he writes plausible tales into the historical setting.

Loved this, although it was hard to get into for the first 30 or 40 pages. After that I couldn't put it down, and will have to look for more of his books.