P.C. Doherty is one of the great masters of those who write detailed historical fiction, and the best of his numerous novels is his twenty novel series about Hugh Corbett. I have urged him for a long time to get back to this series, and finally it has happened– to great effect for over 330 pages. This is certainly one of his best, but also one of his bloodiest novels, this time about King Edward II in 1311. Here is a helpful summary from one of the Amazon reviewers:
“In this book, it is 1311, and the king is Edward II, born of Edward I (of Braveheart fame) and his beloved wife, Eleanor. Or was he? A man has appeared in Wales with a remarkable resemblance to the Plantagenets, who claims he was switched as an infant after his nurse failed to protect him from a pig who chewed off his right ear. Supposedly, she feared the king’s well known wrath should he find out her mistake.
At the same time, at an abbey on the Welsh Marshes, known as Holyrood, murder most foul occurs again and again. Some one is hammering long iron nails into the foreheads of monks.
At the behest of Prior Henry, Sir Hugh Corbett, the Keeper of the Secret Seal and Edward II’s personal envoy arrives at the abbey to put an end to the gruesome killings.
But who are these “monks?” As Corbett explains to his faithful friend and sidekick, Ranulf-atte-Newgate, principal clerk in the Chancery of the Green Wax, they are the Knights of the Swan; none other than the former bodyguards of the late King Edward I, and in that position committed terrible atrocities on the battlefield-all in the king’s name and with his approval.
Each knight brings his non-military talents to the abbey and it seems to thrive—well except for the killings, that is.
Obviously, these knights-turned-monks have enemies, enemies who are willing to kill in ways to rival the knights’ own brutality.
Then there is the Pretender; and a beggar who is found dead without a mark—a beggar who looks lean and fit—who is he?
There is also Roger Mortimer, the man who will one day, along side his lover, Queen Isabella, order the death of her husband, Edward II. What is his stake in this?
Finally, Corbett’s old nemesis, the French King’ envoy, Amaury de Craon who arrives for—why? Why is HE here?
Yes, Corbett has his work cut out for him. Find a sadistic killer and at the same time dodge the arrows constantly shot into the abbey by Welsh archers who have every reason to want the Knights of the Swan turned monks dead.
I don’t envy Corbett at all!”
To this apt summary I can only say well done. Doherty knows how to weave together detailed facts with plausible fiction, and one can only hope this is not the end of the Corbett saga. For a schoolmaster, and someone like myself who is a senior citizen, it is amazing he has time for so many novels, and such good ones. Were I with him in London as I have been before and we were having a good repast, I would raise a glass to him and say ‘well done good and faithful servant, inherit the royalties!’
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