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A Friar's Bloodfeud (Knights Templar series)

A Friar's Bloodfeud (Knights Templar series)
By Michael Jecks

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Product Description

Bailiff Simon Puttock’s servant, Hugh, has been granted leave to look after his wife, Constance, and to help raise their child. But soon after, she is attacked in their home, raped by a gang of men. Then she watches as her son is murdered and Hugh is struck down, before she too is killed and the house set afire. When Simon and Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King’s Peace, arrive at the grisly scene, the cottage is burned to the ground, the body of the child lying outside. Inside is a woman’s torso, badly charred. There are no remains of Hugh, but the fire raged so fiercely that all believe he has perished. But nothing is so simple. Simon vows revenge, and there are dark forces lurking that will cause no end of mayhem and bloodshed.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #468998 in Books
  • Published on: 2005-12-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 416 pages

Features

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Despite myriad characters and rapid, often cumbersome scene changes, Jecks's 17th medieval historical (after 2005's The Butcher of St. Peters's) paints a vivid and bloody panorama of Edward II's "war-scarred kingdom." In 1324, rival landowners battle for property and power, and Keeper of the King's Peace Sir Baldwin de Furnshill is reluctantly drawn into the conflict when the family of his neighbor, Hugh, a humble moorland shepherd, is found butchered and burned by unknown assailants. This tragedy follows the rape and torture of Lady Lucy of Meeth and her servant, leading Baldwin to suspect the involvement of ruthless Hugh Despenser (an ally of the king) and his fearsome steward, Sir Geoffrey Servington. Opposing this land-grab by Edward's surrogates is a third Hugh, Lord Hugh de Courtenay, also with powerful allies in knights Sir Odo de Bordeaux and Sir John Sully. Nervously observing all this carnage is shadowy renegade Friar Humphrey, who's ostensibly caring for an elderly priest, but is caught in a dilemma of his own making. Despite multiple subplots, Baldwin's perseverance leads to a just resolution.
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Review
A delightful medieval series. -- Publishers Weekly

Memorable characters, steadily absorbing period background… a commendable achievement. -- Kirkus Reviews

Nicely detailed and tightly argued, with involving and memorable characters. -- Library Journal

About the Author
Michael Jecks gave up a career in the computer industry to concentrate on writing and the study of medieval history, especially that of Devon and Cornwall. He lives with his family in northern Dartmoor.

Customer Reviews

Just as Good as the Rest5
For those readers who are familiar with Michael Jecks books, this one is just as good as all the rest. For those who have not read Michael Jecks, but like historical novels, particularly about medieval England, you are in for all real treat.

The two main characters in the books are Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock. Sir Baldwin is an ex Crusader knight, who has managed to escape the wrath of the French King who ordered the destruction of the Order and all of its members.

Sir Baldwin is now the head of the family manor after the death of his brother and is also Keeper of the King's Peace in Devon.

Word reaches Simon that a gang of men have broken into the house of his servant Hugh and attacked the family. When Simon reaches the cottage he find it burnt to the ground and the bodies already buried. It would seem that Hugh must have perished in a dreadful accident, but Simon and Sir Baldwin begin to suspect that there is much more to it than that

Love Jenks5
Jenks knows how to write and tell a good story that is historically accurate. A really good "whodunit."

More Murder and Mayhem in Merrie Old England!5
Murder most foul raises its ugly head once again in Michael Jecks' ongoing 'Knights Templar' series but this time the loss is a personal one for the team of Furnshill and Puttock. Puttock's former servant, Hugh, his wife and son have been slaughtered and other Iddesleigh residents terrorized by unknown villains. As the Keeper of the King's Peace and his old friend and their wives journey to the scene of the crime to investigate, the reader is plunged into yet another entertaining medieval murder mystery.

As events turn out, Hugh's death is apparently wrapped up in the ongoing duel of wits between two competing manors. Discovering just who the murderers are and how the whole puzzle falls together takes up the book's 500 pages, a task not made easier as bodies pile up.

A FRIAR'S BLOODFEUD is vintage Jecks. His ability to construct intricate storylines that have the reader frantically turning page after page, his wide-ranging knowledge of medieval England and, most importantly, his ability to construct multi-dimensional characters are all in evidence.

As much as I have enjoyed the 'Knights Templar' series, I also find myself coming away from the stories with new insights about humanity circa 1300. Reading A FRIAR'S BLOODFEUD left me appalled at the casual brutality with which the 'haves' of medieval England treated the 'have nots.' Though they were knights, the conduct of the two opposing masters of Fishleigh and Monkleigh was reprehensible but probably typical of those times.

In any case, Furnshill and Puttock triumph in the end but you'll have to read A FRIAR'S BLOODFEUD to find out who did it and why. Along the way, you'll be treated to another marvelous, insightful and wonderfully entertaining journey through medieval England. Highly recommended.