A Moorland Hanging by Michael Jecks

One reason I like reading historical mysteries is that I always seem to learn something new about life in different eras and far away places. Michael Jecks's A Moorland Hanging, the third in his series featuring Bailiff Simon Puttick and former Templar knight Sir Baldwin Furnshill, centers around England's tin mining industry in the early fourteenth century. Monarchs had granted miners special privileges during medieval times, giving them a broad range of freedoms. This leeway forms the basis of the mystery in A Moorland Hanging.

When a miner is found hanged from a tree, it is soon discovered that he is an escaped villein from the local knight's service and has found refuge in the safety of the King's rules protecting tin miners. Was his murder an act of retribution by the knight Sir William or his sons? Or could he have run afoul of Thomas Smyth, the most powerful miner in the area who's strong-arming others into leaving, giving him more control and more wealth?

Simon and Baldwin have a very daunting task. Everyone near the victim has secrets and does not trust anyone else. Not even the bailiff and his friend, the Templar knight, whose ideals are usually considered above reproach.

Confounding the mystery is the favoritism shown to the victim Peter Bruther by Smyth. Simon and Baldwin discover that Bruther enjoyed unusual immunity from Smyth and his bullies who used heavy-handed techniques and assault to clear out other miners unwanted by him.

Sir William's sons, Robert and John feud among each other as well. Robert as the oldest is the heir to the manor and all its lands. This understandably stirs up resentment in the younger brother, John who has been gone for several years training to become a knight. Robert thinks Joh is brash, wild and immature. John thinks Robert is soft, spineless and does not have what it takes to keep villeins in line and from disgracing the family name.

Jecks describes early fourteenth century England with stark vividness. He can easily give the reader a clear image of the moors, the Beauscyr Manor and the stuffiness of an English summer; the hardships of the tin miners as they struggle to eke out a living off of the very-often harsh land; and the political environment of the current ruler. He illustrates this backdrop with the hierarchy and stations of Edward II's subjects and their opinions of him.

This culture is fascinating and brought to life by Jecks's able story-telling. A Moorland Hanging is a complex mystery that keeps the reader guessing until the last page.

"Leash of Faith" coming soon to loveyoudivine Alterotica

My latest short story, Leash of Faith, is coming soon to loveyoudivine Alterotica.

Brian lives according to the tenets of duty, submission and brotherly love. But not exactly in the way his parishioners expect from their pastor...

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Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead by Nick Drake

There are some great mysteries out there set in ancient Egypt such as Lynda S. Robinson’s excellent Lord Meren series, P. C. Doherty’s Amerotke and Lauren Haney’s Lieutenant Bak. All are amazing authors and I remain a loyal and devoted follower of them, but I was blown away by Nick Drake’s Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead, his debut mystery novel featuring detective Rahotep from Thebes.

Rahotep is summoned to the new capitol city being built by King Akhenaten and his wife-queen Nefertiti, whose beauty is still revered today even after many centuries. Nefertiti has disappeared and Rahotep’s unorthodox methods of investigation have earned him the assignment, chosen by the King himself to find her before the festival inauguration of the city mere days away.

He wonders why he was called from distant Thebes from his wife and three daughters, and over more senior Medjay officers. The Medjay are similar to today’s police forces. Even before he reaches the capitol city, an attempt is made on his life. Things deteriorate once he arrives. The chief of the Medjay, Mahu, takes an immediate dislike to him. Rahotep encounters obstacles at every turn and his life is threatened on a daily basis.

That was one of the least-liked parts of the book. For half of the novel, the guy didn’t seem to get a break. In a city where everyone wants to hear news of the queen, it seems nobody wants Rahotep to find her and they will keep him from his goal, no matter the cost.

However, the imagery Drake pours into the story is very vivid and gives a magnificent and unflattering view of life in ancient Egypt, where the poor are invisible and yet treated worse. Life under the desert sun is miserable except for those privileged enough to have gardens with trees for shade. Drake brings the culture, environment and the daily rigors of scraping out an existence to life for the reader.

Drake also writes candidly of the multitude of power struggles and corruption of greedy official whose only goal was to see how much money they could hoard, regardless of who was killed or how many. It shatters the images of glitz and glamour that are sometimes used to illustrate and romanticize the lives of kings, queens and their subjects. Ancient Egypt was a dangerous place to live, even for nobility.

Rahotep is almost cliché as the lowly detective being chosen for an impossible mystery on such a grand scale that is most certainly out of his league. But he quickly becomes a hero that the reader can understand, sympathize with and cheer for. Rahotep’s faithful and loyal assistant Khety is also a wonderful character for the reader to enjoy. Together, they make an interesting duo that persevere in their search for the truth against insurmountable odds.

Simply put, Drake’s Egyptian mystery Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead is an awesome read.

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

I’ve read and enjoyed Michael Crichton’s novels The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, which were very technical and meticulously researched. Since I am unfamiliar with his historical fiction, I can’t make an accurate comparison to his earlier works but Pirate Latitudes is as good a pirate novel as any out there.

Unfortunately Crichton left us too early, succumbing to cancer in November 2008 and Pirate Latitudes was published posthumously last year. In some ways, it seems uncharacteristic of him. For one reason, the writing changes about halfway through the novel. For the better. It’s as if Crichton started editing the book starting from the end and working forward but didn’t finish. The first half lacks the impact and sophistication of the second.

In Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain, Crichton introduced some interesting concepts such as creating dinosaurs from DNA extracted from fossilized mosquitoes or an extremely lethal organism from outer space. That level of originality isn’t found in Pirate Latitudes.

With that said, it is a very exciting and thrilling high-seas adventure. The story is set in the Caribbean in the mid-1600’s, during the golden age of piracy. Port Royal, Jamaica was in its hey-day then as a bustling seaport, popular with pirates. It was an English outpost far from the opulence and safety of the court of King Charles, so its governor had to rely on pirates and privateers for commodities, resources and protection which came mainly from raiding Spanish settlements and ships around the Caribbean. Although England and Spain were technically at peace, citizens of the two countries still viewed each other as sworn enemies.

Captain Charles Hunt has received information that a Spanish treasure galleon is anchored at the island of Mantanceros under the protection of a fort on the eastern side. The west side of the island is mountainous, too rough and impenetrable for a ground force to carry out an attack. But Hunt believes it can be done and he recruits a strange group of experts in various fields to help with the assault. During the adventure, they encounter attacks by Spaniards, a hurricane and a mysterious creature from the deep.

Crichton doesn’t gloss over or romanticize any of the details of life aboard sailing vessels in the mid-seventeenth century. Violence, death and deplorable living conditions were the norm and Crichton pulls no punches. Pirate Latitudes is bloody, gritty and unapologetically real. It’s a great pirate story, sure to please any fan of historical novels.

Tucker Peak by Archer Mayor

I was first introduced to Archer Mayor's Joe Gunther series with The Marble Mask, the eleventh novel and theone previous to Tucker Peak. I like the situation that Mayor has created with Gunther in establishing the Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI), a sort of red-headed stepchild of Vermont law enforcement agencies. With the VBI, he has introduced the element of conflict and the battle for legitmacy for Gunther and his contemporaries as they try to establish some respect in the hierarchy of Vermont state agencies. I am not familiar with how the different law enforcement entities are structured or how they fit into the overall scheme of Vermont but Mayor's world is exciting. The author is a town constable and he even pokes fun of his own position.

Tucker Peak, to me, was head and shoulders above The Marble Mask. More action/thriller than mystery, it had more page-turning excitement than the previous novel.

Joe Gunther and the VBI are summoned to the ski resort of Tucker Peak to help the local law enforcement investigate a rash of burglaries. Very quickly, it becomes apparent there is more going on than some delinquents looking to score some fast cash. Joe and fellow VBI-er Sammi Martens go undercover since the nature of the break-ins seems to be inside jobs. The resort is also under attack from an environmentalist group, who is benign but may harbor a more violent element.

About two weeks into their assignment a woman is seriously injured during an accident on the ski lift, one that was nearly fatal. Following that, there is a series of sabotage affecting the ski resort and setting back its plans for improvement and upgrades. The environmentalist group is blamed for the sabotage and the suspected mastermind behind the burglaries is nowhere to be found. Nobody has seen him and leads are coming up as dead-ends.

Mayor's writing style flows easily and leans more toward hard-boiled detective fiction. That's what sets his work apart from others I've read. Throughout the novel, Joe Gunther is interacting with other law enforcement people, cajoling, wheeling and dealing to get what he wants and keep VBI's nose in the clear and improve its standing in the state. He also knows how to get what he wants from the criminals, ne-er-do-wells and suspects. He's the perfect go-between among his co-workers at VBI, smoothing ruffled feathers and doling out big brotherly advice to ensure that everyone gets along and does their job. The result is a likeable character that you certainly want on your side.

As I mentioned earlier, Tucker Peak is a level up from the previous novel for action and excitement for fans of cozy whodunits to detective noir and everything in between.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

After my disappointment in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I decided to get the misery over and read the final installment of J. K. Rowling’s mostly excellent series. The first six novels followed Harry Potter and friends as they attend Hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards. Although exciting, the stories became formulaic and predictable.

Fortunately, Rowlinbg dispensed with the step-by-step routine in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The seventh and final novel is easily the best of the series and the most exciting.

Following the death of his beloved mentor, Professor Dumbledore at the hands of Severus Snape at the end of Half-Blood Prince, Harry sets of on the quest Dumbledor charged him with friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in tow. They have chosen not to return to Hogwarts for this final year, mainly because the school is watched closely by the Dark Lord Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters. His loyal disciple Severus Snape is now headmaster and the school has the feel of a concentration camp.

Potter and company stay on the move, changing their hiding places daily while desperately trying to complete Dumbledore’s quest which should destroy Voldemort for good. However, the Dark Lord always seems one step ahead, but the three teenagers are cunning enough and manage to elude his grasp.

Along the way, Potter and his friends argue, fight, break up and make up. There have always been disagrements among them but in Deathly Hallows, they are more impassioned and emotional to a point never approached in the previous six novels.

And this last novel is packed with more action than ever. The battle at Hogwarts is one of the most exciting scenes I’ve ever read. In my posting of Half-Blood Prince, I complained that Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood were all but ignored but now they are back and on the front lines. Rowling presents a good retrospective in Deathly Hallows of characters from the previous six novels in fierce battle. And it’s good to see professors fighting bravely and aggresively to save Hogwarts.

The novel’s seven-hundred and fifty-nine pages are a formidable length but the fast pace make it an easy read. It is certainly the crown jewel of the series.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

Spoiler Alert!

Okay, I know I’m way behind in finishing the Harry Potter series since the movie version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is now out on DVD. Had I known what lay in store for me as I read it, I wouldn’t have been so eager.

Did J. K. Rowling give up on this one to focus on the last book? After three exciting installments of the series, this one was a big disappointment. I’d rank it on a par with the first one, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The Half-Blood Prince seemed formulaic and didn’t contribute much to the series. At least not 650 pages worth. Consider the Harry Potter book formula:

1. At the beginning, Harry is enduring oppression under his aunt, uncle and cousin in the Dursley household until he is finally rescued. First, it was Hagrid, then its been the Weasleys. This time Dumbledore.

2. Then on the way to Hogwarts, Harry has a confrontation with Draco Malfoy.

3. Arriving at school, Harry is at once esteemed as some sort of celebrity because of some heroic deed that occurred at the end of the last novel (i.e. school year) and the resultant fall-out over the summer (always written in retrospect). Harry is unassuming and humbly tries hard to downplay his abilities and contributions.

4. Shortly after school starts, Harry realizes that something is not right. However strong his suspicions are, no one believes him. Haven’t they figured it out by now that Harry is ALWAYS right? First, it was the basilisk creeping around behind the walls of Hogwarts. Then it was the dementors. In Half-Blood Prince, he suspects Draco Malfoy is up to no good.

5. The school year passes quickly with Harry snooping around but not being able to convince anyone of his suspicions. He always has Severus Snape for a class and they hate each others’ guts. Snape always docks points from the Gryffindor house every time Harry, Ron or Hermione sneezes.

6. There are the Quidditch games, too. The other houses never play each other. It’s only Gryffindor against another house. Gryffindor may lose during the year but they ALWAYS win the championship game.

7. As the year comes to a close, things begin to happen at a rapid pace and soon everyone realizes that (gasp) Harry was right (again). They all apologize for not listening to him earlier and avoided all the death and destruction of You-Know-Who Lord He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named Voldemort.

The chain of events is exactly the same for the first 550 pages except for the particulars. However, in Prisoner of Azkhaban, Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix, Rowling finished with spectacular breath-taking battles of wizards and witches. Good versus evil. There is a battle at the end of Half-Blood Prince but nowhere near the level of excitement as the previous four novels. Maybe five. And there is no build-up to the final scene until the last 100 pages.

It seemed that this story was only an epilogue for Deathly Hallows. Half-Blood Prince was written only for shock value, since the only significant incident is the death of Albus Dumbledore at the hands of Severus Snape. Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood who played very important roles in Order of the Phoenix are relegated to cameo appearances as hangers-on.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the God Emperor of Dune of the Potter series. Just read it to move onto the next novel, but if you skip it, you won’t miss much.