The Mysterium
P.C. Doherty
Minotaur, Apr 24 2012, $25.99
ISBN 9780312678197
Early in the fourteenth century in London, a killer murders Walter Evesham, former chief justice in the Court of King’s Bench. The victim’s throat was cut and the letter M carved into his forehead. The homicide occurred in a locked room with the M being the trademark of assassin Mysterium.
Hugh Corbett, “the Keeper of the King’s Secret Seal,” investigates the murder. He knows Evesahm caught Mysterium two decades ago, but the hired killer escaped and apparently fled the kingdom. As others die, it appears he has come home. However, his inquiry spins strangely when he concludes that two killers are terrorizing London and no one, not even King Edward I, is above suspicion except his assistant former Newgate resident Ranulf.
This is the usual great medieval whodunit that readers expect from P.C. Doherty (see The Waxman Murders and Nightshade) as the background has the armchair audience feeling they are in the first decade of the fourteenth century while accompanying the hero on the case. Fast-paced, the exhilarating storyline opens with an exciting riot at Newgate, turns to several murders and riots as the innocent die, and ends with a stunning confrontation.
Harriet Klausner
P.C. Doherty
Minotaur, Apr 24 2012, $25.99
ISBN 9780312678197
Early in the fourteenth century in London, a killer murders Walter Evesham, former chief justice in the Court of King’s Bench. The victim’s throat was cut and the letter M carved into his forehead. The homicide occurred in a locked room with the M being the trademark of assassin Mysterium.
Hugh Corbett, “the Keeper of the King’s Secret Seal,” investigates the murder. He knows Evesahm caught Mysterium two decades ago, but the hired killer escaped and apparently fled the kingdom. As others die, it appears he has come home. However, his inquiry spins strangely when he concludes that two killers are terrorizing London and no one, not even King Edward I, is above suspicion except his assistant former Newgate resident Ranulf.
This is the usual great medieval whodunit that readers expect from P.C. Doherty (see The Waxman Murders and Nightshade) as the background has the armchair audience feeling they are in the first decade of the fourteenth century while accompanying the hero on the case. Fast-paced, the exhilarating storyline opens with an exciting riot at Newgate, turns to several murders and riots as the innocent die, and ends with a stunning confrontation.
Harriet Klausner
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