Cheryl R. (Spuddie) -
#10 Matthew Bartholomew medieval mystery in which the Cambridge scholar/physician becomes the official Corpse Examiner for the University, specifically for Brother Michael, the senior proctor. More physicians have come to Cambridge, easing the pressure on Matt so he no longer needs to run here and there treating everyone and struggle to do his teaching at Michaelhouse college.
A war is heating up in Cambridge--aside from the usual "town and gown" conflicts, there are rival mills vying for business. When two bodies are found mangled in the wheels of one of them, it's believed at first to be a horrible accident, but Matt in his role as corpse examiner finds that each body has a nail rammed into the mouth and up into the brain, which was the cause of death. The two were locked in the mill and there was no one else there, so how did they die? Matt and Michael both are convinced that two young men who had been convicted of murder but received a pardon from the King and were released have something to do with it--but how to accuse them without being charged with treason themselves--for surely to question the King's judgment is treason.
Before long, other bodies and attempted attacks muddy the waters further as the author takes us on another long and convoluted trek through medieval Cambridge with all the political and religious posturing. Truly, these books seem to get longer and more twisty with each one, and I find myself skimming quite a lot because they just get off track and too wordy. I love the characters and the author's sense of place and time, but they could easily be at least a hundred pages shorter (each is about 500 pages of small print) without losing any of the story.
A war is heating up in Cambridge--aside from the usual "town and gown" conflicts, there are rival mills vying for business. When two bodies are found mangled in the wheels of one of them, it's believed at first to be a horrible accident, but Matt in his role as corpse examiner finds that each body has a nail rammed into the mouth and up into the brain, which was the cause of death. The two were locked in the mill and there was no one else there, so how did they die? Matt and Michael both are convinced that two young men who had been convicted of murder but received a pardon from the King and were released have something to do with it--but how to accuse them without being charged with treason themselves--for surely to question the King's judgment is treason.
Before long, other bodies and attempted attacks muddy the waters further as the author takes us on another long and convoluted trek through medieval Cambridge with all the political and religious posturing. Truly, these books seem to get longer and more twisty with each one, and I find myself skimming quite a lot because they just get off track and too wordy. I love the characters and the author's sense of place and time, but they could easily be at least a hundred pages shorter (each is about 500 pages of small print) without losing any of the story.
