Publisher's Weekly Review
Doherty's 22nd whodunit featuring 14th-century friar Athelstan (after The Hanging Tree) is as fresh as ever. England's King Richard II, attempting to realize his ancestors' imperial ambitions, has set his sights on the French crown. With the two nations maintaining a fragile peace, a series of murders and intelligence breaches threaten to spark an all-out war. England's spy chief, Master Thibault, has been relying on information from Nightingale, a mole in the French court in Paris, to maintain a civil relationship with the country. Soon after Nightingale warns Thibault that the French have sent some of their most dangerous agents to England, his espionage network is disrupted by the disappearance of several informants. Then two of Thibault's own clerks are murdered, one in a chamber locked and bolted from the inside. Sir John Cranston, London's Lord High Coroner, asks his friend, Athelstan, to help him investigate the killings, and any possible connections they may have to the international tensions. As he digs into the case, Athelstan turns up chilling evidence that the British may have a mole on their hands. Doherty doles out clues shrewdly and decorates the narrative with his characteristically sharp period details. This long-running series has yet to show signs of slowing down. (Nov.)
Kirkus Review
In 1382, there's a fragile peace between England and France, and the only battles are fought between spy services that use every dirty trick to gain an advantage. When a clerk in the office of the Secret Seal sells gossip to a spy for the Chambre Noir, he doesn't think it can hurt anyone, but it opens a crack that leads to death and destruction. The death of Hugh Norwic, the principal clerk in the king's Secret Chancery, and the decimation of the English spy ring in Paris call for the expertise of Sir John Cranston, Lord High Coroner of the City of London, and his friend, the clever, humble Brother Athelstan, Dominican Parish Priest of St. Erconwald's in Southwark. London is already a bustling, dangerous, and filthy city before one of its most troublesome thieves, the Radix Malorum, returns to torment Sir John. Even that problem pales before treason and murder at the House of Secrets, where Thibault, Master of Secrets, shows them Norwic's body and asks them to discover who could have killed him. Someone is clearly breaching the well-protected area and stealing secrets. Only six trusted clerks work there, and Thibault himself holds the keys. The only other people allowed in are the illiterate men who clean the building and burn the scraps. The clever pair puts their minds and networks together, setting off a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, with a mounting body count, to uncover the villains whose nefarious plots endanger England. Unsettling historical detail enhances a story of hate, revenge, and multiple murders. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
