Paul Doherty (1) (1946–)

Treason abounds!

England at the time of King Richard and John of Gaunt. The English have a spy ring spread across Paris. It’s being decimated. Head of the Paris organization, the spy Nightingale, flees to England, to his Master of the secret English chamber. Master Thibault and his Secret Chancery. France has its equivalence, the Chamber Noir.
Somehow secrets are being taken out of from the well guarded repository in London and being sent to France. Treason is at hand.
Brother Athelstan, Dominican Parish Priest of St Erconwald’s in Southwark, and his friend Lord High Coroner of the City of London, are in danger. They are required for an investigation into the death of Hugh Norwic, principal clerk in the Secret Chancery. A price has been put on their heads. They are being attacked on two sides, by agitators asking questions about Radix Malorum, the king of housebreakers, and they’re being hunted down by a secret French cabal, Luciferi.
Efforts have been made on their lives as they search for answers to not one but two locked room mysteries.
Athelstan and his beloved but motley crew of parishioners, as always are part of the story. This tale deals more with treachery between kingdoms, although his parishioners run close to the edges.
Athelstan has important dealings with the barge master Moleskin and his crew as a battle breaks out on the Thames. The river is a treacherous place.
Intrigue, darkness and the ravages of decisions made twenty years ago are some of the factors in this story and we are left wondering. More is to come but what? Is there still an uncovered traitor?
Another solid and illuminating tale from Doherty, exploring the tensions between England and France at this time. Many treacheries haunt the night, treacheries that trickle down even to Athelstan’s small parish.

A Severn Press ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.… (more)

I want to open by saying that I've been reading the Brother Athelstan mysteries for years and have enjoyed them a great deal. Doherty's historical mysteries tend to have fewer anachronisms than some of the books in the historical mystery genre, and I appreciate being able to feel as if I'm not reading a 21st Century novel dressed up to look older than it is.

Yes, at times Brother Athelstan seems a bit more willing to overlook crime and potential heresy than I would expect from a friar in the 14th Century, but Doherty manages not to cross that line. Brother Athelstan is a man who sees and understands more than most, but is still a man of his time.

One of the other ways Doherty avoids or counterbalances anachronisms is through the character Lord John Cranston, coroner for London, who seems very much a man of this times, particularly a lawman of his time. The Brother Athelstan novels take place in a London that reflects the violence and sudden (and not always just) justice of the era. Gallows with the remains of the executed stud many of London's neighborhoods and are an expected part of the "scenery." Those caught in the act of a crime are summarily hung. Torture is an accepted part of questioning a suspect.

This particular volume of the Brother Athelstan series struck me as involving more violence than I remember from previous volumes, but I'm not sure whether that's actually the case or just a failing of my memory. What I do know, is that while reading Murder Most Treasonable I found myself asking "what is life like, how is the world perceived and lived in, when sudden violence is part of the machinery of justice, is seen not just as acceptable, but as good?" I don't have any great answers to that questions, but I appreciate Doherty's taking me enough out of my comfort zone to make me ask it.

Murder Most Treasonable isn't one of my favorite Brother Athelstan mysteries. The build up to the crime(s) is slow. The last third of the book establishes the pace I'm more accustomed to in the books, not rushed, but with a sort of surging as answers to questions accumulate and threats become more specific. I wouldn't recommend Murder Most Treasonable as a good first read if one is unfamiliar with the series, but in the context of the series it could work well—readers should just spend time with a few earlier volumes first.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.… (more)