Friday, November 24, 2017

Book review - "The Demon Archer" by P. C. Doherty


The 11th novel in P. C. Doherty’s excellent series featuring Clerk of the Secret Seal Hugh Corbett opens with Hugh recovered from the arrow wound which he suffered at the end of The Devil’s Hunt.  That might be a spoiler but with many more novels afterwards, there wasn’t much fear that Corbett would pass away.  Ranulf-atte-Newgate, his manservant, has been promoted to Chancery of the Green Wax for his bravery in killing Corbett’s would-be assassin.

In The Demon Archer, Edward I calls upon Hugh and Ranulf to investigate some intrigue.  Edward was about to send an entourage to France to continue negotiations with Philip IV that Prince Edward and Princess Isabella are to be betrothed.  Before the party can leave, the special envoy chosen by Edward, Lord Henry Fitzalan, is killed by an arrow as he and his guests were about to being a hunt.  Is this a plot to sabotage the treaty between England and France?

Corbett and Ranulf discover that absolutely no one in village liked Lord Henry, not his younger brother Sir William, or his half-sister Lady Madeline, prioress of the wealthy priory of St. Hawisia.  An outlaw in the nearby woods, calling himself the Owlman, has been sending threatening notes via arrows to Fitzalan with a cryptic reference.  Lord Henry's chief verderer Robert Verlian has vowed to protect his daughter of which Henry has been lusting after and will not take 'no' for an answer. And, to Corbett’s annoyance, his old adversary, Amaury de Craon is nearby and was in the hunting party when Fitzalan was murdered.

This novel is slightly slower paced than the previous few novels but it does rely a bit more on the mystery than action.  An attempt is made on Corbett’s life but it isn’t overdone to the point of almost ridiculousness as in Satans’ Fire, where he couldn’t go a day without someone taking a shot at him.
A new recurring character (I think) is Baldock, who replaces Maltote, the unfortunate messenger killed in The Devil’s Hunt.  He has many of Maltote’s mannerisms and looks, so why kill Maltote if you’re just going to bring him back?

And Ranulf falls in love (again) but this time it might be for real. 


I did enjoy the ending though because Corbett doesn’t seem to pull a solution from thin air, but uses clues that the reader also sees.  There is still some stretch of the imagination but it was a satisfying ending.  

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