Book review - "The Mysterium" by P. C. Doherty

I was reluctant to start The Mysterium by P. C. Doherty since the synopsis made it sound a lot like the previous novel, Nightshade.  Remember in that novel, a sinister, mysterious assailant known as the Sagittarius was ambushing people with a long bow.  In this novel, there is another sinister, mysterious assailant known as the Mysterium.  I was afraid it was going to be a similar theme, but fortunately, it was entirely different.

In the seventeenth installment of P. C. Doherty’s Hugh Corbett series, a chief justice, close to Edward I who sought sanctuary in an abbey after he had been implicated in a series of crimes, has been found with his throat slashed, although his cell was locked from the inside and he was the only one in there. 

About the same time, the justice’s clerk’s body is found floating in the Thames, bound to the body of a pirate hanged earlier.  The clerk’s body had the letter ‘M’ carved into his forehead before he died.

Edward fears the Mysterium, a mysterious assassin, has reappeared after twenty years of silence.  The person they believed to be the Mysterium vanished without a trace then, and nothing has been heard from him since. 

Corbett and Ranulf are dispatched to the abbey to discover and capture the Mysterium.  The mystery hinges on a number of events that occurred twenty years prior, which still reverberate through the kingdom.  And the bodies continue to pile up.

I enjoyed The Mysterium more than Nightshade which I found confusing.  It could also be that I figured out who the Mysterium was before Corbett made the final reveal.

I would definitely recommend this one for mystery fans.