Detective Inspector Ben Jurnet, in Norfolk, is sent to Angleby Cathedral to investigate some graffiti written on one of the Cathedral walls. At the cathedral, a well-known media-loving professor is leading an excavation of the tomb of Little St. Ulf, a child who was killed and horribly mutilated in the middle ages, at which time his death was blamed on the Jews of the town. After gathering evidence and information on potential suspects for the vandalization of the Cathedral walls, Jurnet is shortly called back to the Cathedral to investigate a murder. It seems that one of the choirboys was found at the archaeological site, and his body mutilated after the fashion of Little St. Jurnet, who is studying for his conversion to Judaism (for the sake of marriage), must get to the bottom of the crime quickly, but with so many suspects, it's not going to be easy. There are other problems as well, as anti-Semitism begins to rear its ugly head in Angleby.
There is an abundance of suspects, lots of red herrings, and the core mystery is really well written. I like Jurnet's character, but I think the author gets a bit carried away at times in sharing his inner demons with her readers -- here's yet another detective whose angst is a bit off-putting at times. However, Haymon's comments about the nature of modern crime and criminals are also pertinent to today, although this book was written over 20 years ago. It is a cross between a police procedural and a cozy, leaning more toward the procedural side of British mystery, so I'd recommend it to both cozy readers and to fans of British mystery in general.
Overall -- a good mystery with a main character somewhat overly weighted down by his own problems. I'll definitely be revisiting Inspector Jurnet in the future.
There is an abundance of suspects, lots of red herrings, and the core mystery is really well written. I like Jurnet's character, but I think the author gets a bit carried away at times in sharing his inner demons with her readers -- here's yet another detective whose angst is a bit off-putting at times. However, Haymon's comments about the nature of modern crime and criminals are also pertinent to today, although this book was written over 20 years ago. It is a cross between a police procedural and a cozy, leaning more toward the procedural side of British mystery, so I'd recommend it to both cozy readers and to fans of British mystery in general.
Overall -- a good mystery with a main character somewhat overly weighted down by his own problems. I'll definitely be revisiting Inspector Jurnet in the future.
copyright 1982, 190 pages, St Martin's Press:New York
From Dust Jacket:
"In the glorious cathedral of Angelby, in Norfolk, England, a choirboy lies dead: not only murdered, but horribly mutilated. If the old, monkish chronicles are to be believed, his wounds are identical to those inflicted on a child venerated in the Middle Ages as Little St. Ulf. Ulf's death, in 1144, which was followed by a massacre of the local Jewish population, gave rise to the infamous accusation of ritual murder that brought so much suffering and death to the Jews of medieval Europe. Everyone declares that the murdered child, the sweetest singer in the cathedral choir, was a very quiet boy. So how did he come to such a dreadful end?
Detective-inspector Benjamin Jurnet, in charge of the case, fears that if the killer is not found quickly, anti-Jewish feeling may surface again in Angleby as news of the mutilation spreads- indeed, it is not long before it becomes apparent that the ghost of the ancient lie has still not been laid to rest. But is the detective looking for a rabid anti-Semite or a child-molester?
Jurnet himself, who is in the process of converting to Judaism in order to marry his lover, Miriam, is personally as well as professionally involved. As he sets out to discover the truth, he finds the search entangled with the urgent preoccupations of his private life, and of the lives of many others in the apparently sleep cathedral town.
And then a second choirboy disappears. . . . "
From Dust Jacket:
"In the glorious cathedral of Angelby, in Norfolk, England, a choirboy lies dead: not only murdered, but horribly mutilated. If the old, monkish chronicles are to be believed, his wounds are identical to those inflicted on a child venerated in the Middle Ages as Little St. Ulf. Ulf's death, in 1144, which was followed by a massacre of the local Jewish population, gave rise to the infamous accusation of ritual murder that brought so much suffering and death to the Jews of medieval Europe. Everyone declares that the murdered child, the sweetest singer in the cathedral choir, was a very quiet boy. So how did he come to such a dreadful end?
Detective-inspector Benjamin Jurnet, in charge of the case, fears that if the killer is not found quickly, anti-Jewish feeling may surface again in Angleby as news of the mutilation spreads- indeed, it is not long before it becomes apparent that the ghost of the ancient lie has still not been laid to rest. But is the detective looking for a rabid anti-Semite or a child-molester?
Jurnet himself, who is in the process of converting to Judaism in order to marry his lover, Miriam, is personally as well as professionally involved. As he sets out to discover the truth, he finds the search entangled with the urgent preoccupations of his private life, and of the lives of many others in the apparently sleep cathedral town.
And then a second choirboy disappears. . . . "
