Crispin Guest Book #8
Medieval noir by Jeri Westerton
GENRE : #Historical-mystery
My rating: ★★★★★
4.5 rounded up to 5 stars.
I can say that Crispin Guest is definitely my favorite mystery series !
2024 has been a year in which I've read a lot of boring and unsatisfying books, so when I read one of Crispin Guest's adventures I always feel like I'm finally with an amazing long-time friend, who I can always count on for fun!
It's difficult to love every book in the same series with the same enthusiasm and I admit that I feared the moment had come when I would be disappointed... especially in the first pages when everything seemed too calm to be anything other than the world of Crispin and his apprentice Jack Tucker.
Luckily for me, that world is always full of rude rascals and when, after a few chapters, another nice friend of Crispin's arrived (already a co-protagonist in book #3), the adventure began!
___ PLOT IN SHORT __ England, 1388.
Crispin Guest and his loyal apprentice Jack Tucker are attending a ceremony in Westminster Abbey, when suddenly, after an explosion, King Richard II realizes the Stone of Destiny has disappeared.
After the crushing defeats suffered by the Scottish rebels, the king cannot afford any further weakening of authority and power. He, desperate, requires Crispin to find both the stone and the culprits within 3 days and with his usual contempt and hatred for the former knight, he has Jack imprisoned and promises to have him hanged if the case is not solved.
Without clues or witnesses, everything turns out to be very complicated and while Jack's life hangs by a thread, Crispin will have to get help from an old friend to face 3 groups of enemies.
______________________
Unlike the other first 7 books, here Crispin and Jack ( __THE 2 MAIN CHARACTERS __ ) find themselves separated and while Crispin desperately tries to save the life of his apprentice, for the first time Jack also has his own little case to solve, entrusted to him by none other than the queen!
I found it a good variant to give a bit of freshness to the series and above all it allows the reader to see how Jack is growing not only physically, but also acquiring awareness and maturity.
The series begins with thirty-year-old Crispin and twelve-year-old Jack.
A disgraced knight estranged from court because he was involved in a plot against the king and a small bag cutter with no one in the world who cares about him.
WHY ONLY 4.5 stars and not 5__WHAT I LIKED LESS THAN USUAL ___
While all the previous books introduce their past and their beginning together in an exhaustive way, this volume focuses more on the bond of father-son affection and mutual dependence that was created between the two of them, leaving the reader in a sort of limbo (and therefore too many questions without answer) regarding their past and who and what made them who they are now.
For this reason, although the adventure of this book has a beginning and an end without leaving anything unfinished, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT AS A STANDALONE.
I liked the book, but I admit that I would not have been able to appreciate either the emotional dynamics or the witty moments between Crispin and another character already seen in book 3, if I had not read the previous books first.
-----> This is also why I didn't give it 5 full stars.
In fact, I think that this story is enjoyable and appreciable only by those who already know the characters and their vicissitudes very well, otherwise it could seem like a mystery that can easily be forgotten.
__WHAT I LIKE HERE AND IN ALL THE BOOKS IN THE SERIES ___
Crispin Guest's mystery series usually mixes fictional events and fictional characters alongside a handful of real-life characters.
What makes reading enjoyable for me is that while in parallel I can briefly read about the true lives of the characters on Wikipedia (along with all the historical notions that concern them), in the book I see them come to life as if by magic they appeared before my eyes.
Through the dialogues imagined by the author, they take shape and life, surprising me with lively or laconic, sometimes sardonic jokes, generous or despicable actions, behaving cowardly or courageous, siding with Crispin or against him and making themselves adorable or hateful in my eyes.
This is the beauty of fiction, it makes the news from history books more real and closer to us and encourages us to discover more about events and people that perhaps seemed boring to us when we were at school.
___ HISTORICAL FIGURES and also CHARACTERS in this story___
The recurring side characters are often the king Richard II and those around him:
his uncle John of Gaunt the founder of the royal House of Lancaster, Henry Bolingbroke, son of John and future King Henry IV, the sheriffs of the moment, the abbot of Westminster and so on.
Each book gives a special role as co-protagonist to other historical figures of that moment.
This time we have :
___ John/Eleonor Rykener :
a really nice character, good at heart and with a double identity, who, as in real life, worked disguised as a woman both as an embroiderer and as a prostitute.
The character went down in history due to her arrest for prostitution and sodomy and the confusion generated by her disguise.
In the stories of Jeri Westerton, the author, he is a good friend of Crispin, ready to help him in the investigations and also to pleasantly embarrass him with his feminine attitudes that Crispin hates, but which often prove useful to confuse even enemies.
___ Queen Anne of Bohemia:
first wife of King Richard II. Here too, as in reality (considering what I have read about the two young spouses) they are very much in love and Anna has a mitigating effect on Richard's impulsive and unwise decisions.
Through the case that she entrusts to Jack we can admire her in all her kindness and generosity.
___ Katherine Swynford :
first the mistress and then the third wife of John of Gaunt.
Crispin, who has greatly broadened his outlook over his years of disgrace, still clings to the prejudices he held about her as a boy, as he did not approve of Gaunt's affairs outside of marriage.
In this new adventure we see Crispin take another step forward towards greater open-mindedness, capable of giving a second chance to those who deserve it.
A CURIOSITY ABOUT KATHERINE SWINFORD that probably you don't know:
---> Although she is not a prominent figure in history books, many important historical figures descended from her, from that time to modern times including: Princess Diana, Sir Winston Churchill, (Lord) Alfred Tennyson and 5 American presidents (G. Washington, T. Jefferson. J. Quincy Adams, F. D. Roosevelt and G. W. Bush)
___ HISTORICAL OBJECTS : Stone of Scone also known as Stone of Destiny
In each book of the series Crispin is looking for a famous and legendary missing object (this is why he is called the Tracker, his job is to track down missing objects and usually a murder also happens and he will find the culprit).
The object of the moment is something that I, being Italian, had never heard of: the Stone of Scone also known as Stone of Destiny.
A stone which in 1296, First War of Scottish Independence, Edward I of England took as war booty and brought to Westminster Abbey, where it was placed in a wooden chair, known as the coronation chair.
Since then it has been a symbol of the divine right of English kings to rule over Scotland.
The stone only returned to Scotland in 1996 (7 centuries after it was taken!!).
It has been kept in Edinburgh Castle ever since, but with the agreement that it would be brought back to England for each coronation.
Every English monarch has sat on that stone on their coronation day, including Elizabeth II and her son Charles III in 2023.
Being Italian, I know little about English history, so I am fascinated when I read the author's historical notes with all the connections to the book and to reality.
___ MY CONCLUSIONS ____
Although I liked it a lot, this adventure has less action than usual and it's less fast paced compared to the previous books in the series and less impressive, so I suggest you do not start with this one, much better to start from book #1 or at least book #2.
Thanks for reading my opinion and please be patient with my english, it's not my language.
If you want to know more about PREVIOUS BOOKS, you can read my reviews here :
BOOK #1 "Veil of Lies" :
BOOK #2 "Serpent in the Thorns" :
BOOK #3 "The Demon's Parchment" :
BOOK #4 "Troubled Bones" :
BOOK #5 "Blood Lance" :
BOOK #6 "Shadow of the Alchemist"
BOOK #7 "Cup of Blood"
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