"The Templar's Cross: A Medieval Mystery" - review

1420 Scotland:  Sir Law Kintour is wounded in battle and lost his liege. He has returned from the war in France injured, broke, and in need of a patron but the new earl, son of his liege, just sees a man with a bad leg and refuses to employ him as a knight. In desperation, he reluctantly accepts a commission to find a nobleman's runaway wife. He enlists the help of a fellow Scot with whom he escaped after their defeat at the Battle of Verneuil. But this man is soon murdered, and Law discovers he has been lied to. As the murders continue to mount, powerful interests come into play. When the Sheriff of Perth considers him a convenient scapegoat, it gives Law no choice but to untangle the lies and find the killer or hang for the murders.

The book is a quick read. Sometimes I had the feeling I was missing something and the end was a bit sudden.

It is full with Scottish words that are for me as a Dutch person who has been in Scotland often not that difficult but for some it might be quite a hurdle. But sometimes I was at a total loss too. Like when people are described as having a tryst what is nowadays the word for some causal sex meeting and then it is later said the guy is gay. Turns out in the language of that century a tryst was a meeting in  general. And I guess a lot of modern people do not know the names of the medieval clothing.The writer however added a glossary at the end of the book (what I discovered a bit late on my Kindle. Move it to the start of the novel!)

Were they really eating kale as a staple food? The writer used to write historical novels so I trust her for it. Some healthy Scots. I like kale but not more then once a month.

A first novel in a three-set series. Not that good but good enough to try the others as well.

Comments

Popular Posts