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NIGHTSHADE, the sixteenth in Paul Doherty's Hugh Corbett series, involves a number of crimes including a "locked room" murder. In January 1304, Hugh Corbett, Keeper of the Secret Seal and emissary of King Edward I, is sent to Mistleham, Essex, to investigate complaints that Lord Oliver Scrope has killed a wandering band of Beguines and not buried their bodies. In addition, Lord Scrope, who had survived the massacre at Acre in Outremer, has brought home the treasure of the Templars including the Sanguis Christi, a solid gold cross, which King Edward wanted. Finally a daring group of thieves robbed the royal treasury in Westminster Abbey and some of the loot has been traced to this area. Corbett, with his assistants Ranulf and Chanson, journey to Milsteham to deal with these problems and learn that a sniper, Sagittarius the Archer, is killing innocent citizens. Somehow he murders again, and this time the victim is alone on an island, locked in a room, and his guards swear that no one has passed them. The methods of detection Sir Hugh has at hand, of course, are the ancient means of interview and deduction, and eventually he confronts the murderer. Whether that confrontation ends with justice the reader will have to decide. In the process Sir Hugh also deals with the other problems the king has ordered him to solve. This book has a rich and vivid sense of place and time. Using many lavish and intricate details, Doherty creates the village with its marketplace and all the sounds and smells associated with it, the manor house with its Great Hall and sumptuous rooms, and the parish church richly decorated, a corpse door leading out to the Acre of God where bodies are kept before burial. Truly the reader can get the smell and taste of the Middle Ages and the picture seems quite accurate. The problem is that all these bountiful details often slow the story down as well as add to its authenticity. The villainous characters are very well depicted, and the reader learns to hate them for the way they act. They are not wholly evil, however. There is some good in all the people in the book. But their pasts have made them into reprobates by the time these events take place. The protagonist, Sir Hugh, and his aides are not so completely and complexly described. They are, however, real enough for us to understand their motivations and their actions. It feels as though there is a wall between the reader and the events of the story. None of the characters are empathetic and the reader often does not feel personally involved in the story. The rich details and the descriptions often keep her from being part of the action. The solution to the mystery is fair, and the reader could figure it out if she wants to. It is intriguing and succeeded in mystifying me until the very end. This is a complex and complicated book as far as description and sense of place and sub-themes are concerned and it requires careful attention on the part of the reader to enjoy it.
Reviewed by Sally A. Fellows, September 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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