A Maiden Weeping

December 14, 2015
An unlikely supporting character takes a prominent role, at the expense of credibility, in Westerson’s eighth Crispin Guest mystery (after 2014’s Cup of Blood). In 1388, an explosion inside London’s Westminster Abbey disrupts the Feast of the Holy Virgin’s Nativity, whose attendees include Richard II; Guest, who’s known as the Tracker for his investigative prowess; and Guest’s 15-year-old apprentice, Jack Tucker. No one is injured, but when the smoke clears, the Stone of Destiny, which was captured a century earlier from the Scots and stored underneath Edward I’s coronation chair, is gone. The king, who fears that he’ll appear weak if he goes before Parliament without the stone restored to the chair, gives Guest three days to retrieve it. Since Richard has his doubts about Guest’s loyalty, he holds Jack hostage to ensure the Tracker does his bidding. During the apprentice’s
captivity, Jack manages to gain a powerful ally in a subplot that relies too much on contrivance. Despite the high stakes, Westerson fails to generate much suspense. Agent: Joshua Bilmes, Jabberwocky Literary Agency.

August 1, 2016

In his eighth adventure (after The Silence of Stones), Crispin Guest wakes up in a strange bed next to a strangled woman. After another victim is found, he must rely on apprentice Jack Tucker to handle the investigation.

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August 1, 2016
October 1389. Crispin Guest, a former knight (he was expelled from the brotherhood for his alleged part in a conspiracy against King Richard II), is what we would call in modern parlance a private eye. And this series is very much in the hard-boiled tradition, even if it is set seven centuries in the past. In the eighth installment, Crispin awakens after a night of debauchery in a bed he doesn't recognize. But that's nothing compared to the other surprise in his bed: a dead woman. Did he kill her? He's not sure, but the authorities are, and they promptly lock him up, leaving Crispin's young protege, Jack, to try to spring Crispin from the slammer. There are plenty of mysteries set in the medieval era, but the Crispin Guest series sets itself apart from the crowd by its gritty, noirish atmosphere and the author's writing style, straight out of Hammett and Chandler. For those who don't mind historical mysteries with a distinctly modern flavor, this one is a must.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

June 20, 2016
Westerson’s lackluster ninth medieval noir (after 2015’s The Silence of Stones) finds investigator Crispin Guest in his favorite London tavern, the Boar’s Tusk, feeling the effects of drinking too much wine. When a stranger shoves a bulging money pouch at Crispin, telling him that a woman must be dead that very night, he realizes that he’s been mistaken for a hired killer. Crispin uses the instructions on the parchment inside the pouch to locate the target, Elizabeth le Porter, who recognizes him as a heroic former knight. Ignoring his warnings, she plies him with more drink, and the two fall into bed together. The next morning, Crispin discovers Elizabeth has been strangled. Afraid that he will be charged with her murder, Crispin flees so that he might catch the culprit, but he’s soon in custody, leaving his teenage apprentice, Jack Tucker, to work the case. Several unlikely plot developments and superficial characterizations make this one of the weaker entries in the series. Agent: Joshua Bilmes, Jabberwocky Literary.

June 1, 2016
A young apprentice must use every skill he's learned to free his master from prison.Crispin Guest lost everything but his honor when his support of the Duke of Lancaster earned him the enmity of King Richard II. Now he earns a living for himself and his apprentice, Jack Tucker, by pursuing thieves and murderers, an activity that's earned him the sobriquet the Tracker (The Silence of Stones, 2016). Guest is drunk in a tavern when a man enveloped in a cloak gives him a purse of coins and a note bidding him to kill Elizabeth le Porter. Guest, no hit man, goes to warn the woman, who easily seduces him. He awakens to find her strangled. Certain that he'll be assumed guilty, he sneaks off, hoping to find the real killer before the sheriffs, who bear him no love, arrest him. Although he's identified by some neighbors who saw him on the scene, the sheriffs give him a few days to find the killer. With Jack's help, Guest discovers that le Porter was a lady's maid for a wealthy widow who possesses a valuable relic, the Virgin's Tears. The Noreys family, desperate for money, has claimed the relic as theirs. When two Noreys brothers accuse Guest of having the relic himself, the ensuing fight leaves one of them dead. Placed under arrest, Guest must count on Jack to find the real killer. Jack finds help in a newly minted lawyer and some of Guest's friends, but only in the middle of Guest's confusing trial, when he is oddly set free on his own recognizance, do the sleuths find a way to establish his innocence. Once again Guest's past misdeeds actually help him in the present in a case that includes plenty of red herrings and an interesting look at medieval jurisprudence.

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