Did Maureen Ash have to go there?
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The beginning of the 13th century - just the period I love to read about. Ms. Ash is a fine storyteller with a knack for description and an intriguing plot - but the story lost me when she introduced what I'll call "crystal voodoo." Not a problem that people might have believed in the efficacy of crystals at the time, but the attribution of true magical powers to them took the story out of historic novel/mystery and into a realm where I couldn't suspend disbelief. A disappointment.
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Ash's Templar Knight's tale is a good read!
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There seems to be no shortage of medieval/historical mysteries. Thank goodness, as it's quite a popular genre and one that has merits of its own.
"The Alehouse Murders" is a first novel by Maureen Ash and features Bascot de Marins, recently returned from the Crusades with the Templar Knights. The world-weary (and physically depleted) knight with his worldly knowledge and background looks to re-build himself, body and soul, following the grueling, decimating Crusades. And what more exciting profession should he turn to but that of sleuth! He's been gone for eight long years and, naturally, is a bit rusty. He settles down in Lincoln in the year 1200 and mid-summer activities are in full bloom. Alas, the pastoral side of Lincoln isn't to last, for, ironically, four bodies are found in a local alehouse and with complicated complications, ever-spiraling associations, and convoluted avenues which Bacot must pursue, the book takes off with a rapid, yet steady pace. Ash has complete control of the plot development, never leaving the reader dangling (or even confused). This is not to say that the story line isn't complicated. It is, but Ash keeps it in a controlled fashion. Her powers of description and episode easily carry the book, traits that most readers will applaud.
Bascot is quite an interesting man, of course, reminiscent of later fictional sleuths and heros and Ash gives us a good foundation for him and his character, noble, sensitive, intelligent, indeed, that he is. A second Knights Templar mystery by her ("Death of a Squire") is already on the shelf and, hopefully, this will become another of the successful historical mystery series. It's a good read!
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An Enjoyable Medieval Mystery
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Maureen Ash is a new author to me and I believe that this is in fact her first book. As I always like to try new writers when I can find them I was happy to read this book. I found it good light and interesting reading. The type of book where you do not have to try too hard to understand the plot. A tried and tested storyline used by many of the top writers of historical mystery fiction.
A knight from the Templar Order, back in England after eight years of captivity in the Holy Land. Weary in both body and soul, Bascot de Marins injuries have affected his body quite badly but not his fertile mind and as he seeks to regain his strength and well-being while on a stay at the castle in Lincoln, he is on the look-out for something to exercise a mind that has lain fallow, during his long years of captivity.
Soon, while Bascot de Marins is trying to renew his faith in God, there is an event that will do just that. Man's inhumanity to man is never very far away in medieval England and what at first seems nothing more than a brutal end to a drunken row soon turns out to be something far more baffling. Just the thing for a convalescing Templar Knight to get his teeth into . . .
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