Helpful Score: 3
Excellent historical mystery. Mystery is very good and not easy to figure out. Ms. Westerson has created very deep and interesting characters with lots of room for growth, historical background is done very well. Can't wait to read book 2.
Crispin Guest is known as The Tracker. A former knight who lost his status due to a youthful rash decision, he has become an investigator who has a love/hate relationship with the sheriff. Crispin becomes involved when a man asks him to discover whether or not his wife is being unfaithful to him. Reluctantly he accepts the case but when he goes to report to the man that she is unfaithful, Crispin finds the man has been murdered. Since he has not been paid he vows to discover the murderer. One thing leads to another and national politics becomes part of the case. Crispin gets beaten a few times, thrown into the river, falls in love with the wife of the murdered man and works to untangle this mysterious web not the least of which is a fabric piece with the picture of a bearded man which supposedly has mysterious powers. It's a good fast read.
This series has promise, but this debut novel is not quite there. Crispin Guest is a disgraced former knight who has been stripped of his title and holdings. Impoverished and not comfortable in the company of those who are now his peers, he has become "The Tracker," or in modern parlance, a private detective. While I couldn't stop myself from thinking "oh, really?" at some spots in the novel or wincing at hyperbole or overblown verbiage, I also couldn't stop wondering what will happen in the next. A brooding hero, an appealing urchin, a mystery I couldn't unravel but made sense when resolved - there was still a lot to like.
There were a few times I said to myself, "Nah, that couldn't have happened." But then I remembered knights were trained fighters, much better than the average felon.
I have the second book in this series and am looking forward to reading it.
I have the second book in this series and am looking forward to reading it.
