The Crusader

This is an historical novel by Michael Alexander Eisner (his debut as a writer of fiction) set in late 13th C eastern Spain and "The Levant," as the areas of the eastern Mediterranean were called. It is certainly a competently crafted novel in terms of character development, plot line, descriptions of setting. I have to ask myself, therefore, why it did not engage me.
Primarily, it was because I did not particularly like or empathize with any of the characters. The narration is primarily reported by a self-serving monk, Brother Lucas, at Santes Creus monastery, who has risen to the position of Prior (just below the abbot in the chain of authority). The main story line revolves around him being assigned to "exorcise" a crusader, Francisco Montcada, who has returned to Spain from The Levant after fighting and being subsequently imprisoned, and is now apparently possessed. Once Francisco begins to talk again, the bulk of the tale is his report of what happened while in Syria (Toron, Krak des Chevaliers, and Aleppo). Francisco was trained to an order of monastic Knights by a family friend, "Uncle Ramon," the leader of the Knights of Calatrava. When Ramon is betrayed by the King's son, Don Fernando, at Toron and dies, Francisco and his cousin and fellow Knight, Andres, are devastated. In a subsequent and futile  battle to save the fortress at Krak des Chevaliers, these two are also betrayed and traded to the Saracens by Don Fernando in exchange for the freedom of the remaining fighters. Andres is eventually beheaded with many of their fellow prisoners, but Francisco is finally ransomed and returns home a broken man. Brother Lucas is encouraged to bring Andres' sister, Isabel, to the monastery to tempt Francisco back to life and the light. Don Fernando, who had thought both of the knights dead, shows up and tries to murder Francisco, but is killed instead. Lucas, Isabel, and Francisco are exiled to Isabel's family home, Girona. So, in sum, we have a rather unlikable monk, a really nasty bad guy, and a guilt-ridden Crusader. Meh.
The historical events are described in rather grisly but not very enlightening detail. That is, I learned more about the cruelty of the warring parties than I did about the actual setting or events. I will often be engaged in a book if I feel I am learning new and interesting things about a period of history. I guess I have already such a jaded view of organized religion, and certainly of the Crusades, that it did not apply here.
I was curious to see how things turned out and, although the ending seemed realistic, it was not compelling. In short, I would not read this book again or recommend it unless you are particularly fond of reading about the Crusades. One reviewer summed it up by saying, "I found myself just wanting to get it over with." A somewhat more flattering review is offered by Kirkus, a source I generally find to be reliable and similar to my own.

Murder as a Fine Art

Written by David Morrell, author of several dozen books, this book is a take-off from  an essay written by Thomas De Quincey called "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts" (1854). In that multi-installment essay, a vivid narrative of actual historical events, De Quincey presages Freud in his attention to motivations of which we are not consciously aware, and also offers up some of the very first writing that became a popular Victorian genre--sensation novels. De Quincey is probably best known for his Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1821), in which he details his nearly lifelong addiction to opium and the many dreams, reflections, and fantasies that the drug catalyzed for him. De Quincy was also an acquaintance of Wordsworth and lived for a time in Dove Cottage after the Wordsworths moved to a larger house.
The Ratcliffe Highway murders described by De Quincy in his essay serve as both background and pattern for this current  novel by Morrell. De Quincey and his youngest daughter, Emily, are both main characters, having come to London from their home in Edinburgh to promote De Quincey's books. De Quincey is addicted to the opium mixture called laudanum, which was still commonly available as "medicine." His daughter tries to keep him functioning and meeting his commitments so that De Quincey can, in turn, pay his debts. His daughter is a feisty early feminist, and regularly rattles the people around her by wearing bloomers when hoop skirts were still the fashion expectation for the gentile classes, and through her outspoken opinions, and her take-charge attitude. She was by far the most entertaining character. De Quincey himself, who is not only addicted to the laudanum but relies on it for insights into the motivations of the serial killer, is the one who actually solves the mystery. Irish born Inspector Ryan, one of London's first detectives, and his engaging supporter and wanna-be detective, Constable Becker, round out the main cast of characters--along with the killer of course.
Morrell immersed himself not only in reading thousands of pages of De Quincey's works, but also in learning about Victorian (mid-nineteenth century) London, and this terrific amount of research is on display in the excerpts of De Quincey's own prose dispersed throughout the narrative and in the small historical asides often provided at the beginnings of chapters. It is a grisly tale well-told and the suspense level is high throughout. Characters are well-developed and the sense of place is vividly rendered. Fans of historical fiction as well as murder mysteries will find this worthwhile.

The Hangman's Daughter

Oliver Pötzsch is a script writer for Bavarian TV and has now also written 5 books in this series which begins with The Hangman's Daughter. The protagonist is the hangman himself, Jakob Kuisl, who in 17th century Bavaria, also served as chief torturer and, unofficially, as a local healer in the town of Schongau. At that time, doctors believed the body was ruled by "humors" and so relied on bleeding, cupping, smelling the patient's urine and other similarly useless tasks; whereas midwives and other local healers relied on herb lore. We are left in no doubt as to which approach was more effective. However, people were alternately very superstitious about those who used such remedies and when problems arose, those same native healers were often labeled as witches or devils and persecuted to the grave. Hangmen, too, were shunned by the townsfolk as a necessary evil and so they and their families lived in the less desirable parts of town and could not interact with the wealthy burgers.
The story opens when Jakob is a boy, trying to wake his father from a drunken stupor in order that he can go hang someone. This is not a profession that brings great happiness, apparently, and this was common behavior for Jakob's father.
Thirty five years later, Jakob is now the town's executioner and has a family of his own--his wife, a nearly grown daughter, Magdalena, and two younger twins. Magdalena has her eyes on Simon Fronwieser, son of the town's physician; Simon is disgusted by how his father practices medicine and seeks to learn all he can about healing. Surprisingly, Jakob has a relatively extensive library of more progressive medical texts and so Simon is a frequent visitor at the house, and is equally besotted with Magdalena. This horrifies Simon's father who believes, like the other wealthy men in town, that one should not fraternize with the hangman's family.
Now a young orphan turns up in the river, fatally beaten and wounded with a crudely made symbol on his shoulder that the townspeople immediately conclude is evidence of witchcraft. They target the local midwife, Martha Stechlin, and it is up to Jakob, Simon and Magdalena to find the real killers before Jakob is forced to execute Martha as a witch. It is a sufficiently intricate plot to keep one guessing as to who is behind this and the additional murders of children that occur in the next few days. Time is running out for Martha, when Magdalena is kidnapped by a man with a hand of bone; those who've seen him believe is a devil summoned by the witch. Lots of good historical detail and description. The author is directly descended from the Kuisl dynasty of executioners and so had a great starting place to learn about what their lives were like. This will be a good recommendation for those who love historical fiction, a good mystery or a bit of the paranormal. Very readably translated from the German by Lee Chadeayne

The Red Notebook

Antoine Laurain is the author of five novels which have been translated into numerous languages. This one is translated from the French by Emily Boyce and Jane Aitken.  Former financier turned bookstore owner, Laurent Letellier, finds an elegant woman's handbag lying on top of a street dumpster. Inside are lots of intriguing personal items but all identification is missing. Although the obvious path would be to simply turn it over to the police--which he does initially try to do--he undertakes to find the owner of the handbag using the bag's contents as clues. Eventually he tracks her down, Laure Valadier, only to find that she has been hospitalized in a coma for several days, having been the victim of a mugging. He pretends to be her boyfriend when questioned by the man looking after her cat, and even volunteers to feed the cat himself while Laure's friend is out of town. Thus does Laurent come to be acquainted with a woman who he has never met. He realizes, of course, that his behavior is somewhat bizarre and eventually he leaves the handbag, along with her dry cleaning that he picked up in the course of his search, and a note, but no contact information. Once home, Laure, learns what she can about her mysterious benefactor and seeks to find him, with no success. Laurent's 15-year-old daughter, Chloe, takes it upon herself to find Laure and give her the option of meeting Laurent. The pursuit of Laure feels a little bit obsessive at times, but ultimately Laurent is a good and decent man who has gone a little overboard in doing a good deed. It's a happy ending. I really liked this review from The Telegraph.

A Grave in the Cotswolds

This is the 8th in Rebecca Tope's "Cotswolds Mysteries" series; how could I resist when I am so enamored of the Cotswolds.  I did not realize until I looked at her web page that she was the ghost writer for the BBC series "Rosemary and Thyme" which I really liked.
Apparently both main characters, Thea Osborne, widowed house sitter, and Drew Slocombe, alternative burials undertaker, have appeared in previous books in this series. And there are several other series that I will sample...she's quite prolific.
Drew and his partner, Maggs, offer the dying or those left behind to bury them, the option of a more ecologically sustainable type of funeral. They aren't exactly doing a land office business, but they are getting by. Normally Drew and Maggs sell the interested party a plot on their own land, but in the central case here, the deceased was very clear that she wanted to be buried in a field near her home. There is a very small turnout for the funeral and Drew is ready to leave when one of the attendees proceeds to cite him for having an expired car tag and overly worn tires. The next day he is contacted by the police arriving at his door to say the Council of Broad Campden have taken issue with the burial, declaring it was performed on Council land and not on property owned by the deceased, Greta Simmonds. Drew drives back to the village where he has a very acrimonious discussion with a Council representative, who is shortly thereafter found murdered. Drew, of course, becomes the chief suspect. It is only due to the diligent snooping around and manipulation of Thea, who had been house sitting for the deceased Greta, that Drew does not end up in jail.
Nice small village atmospheric details, including the gossipy and rancorous relations that can result in such communities. English cozy material. I have been to both Chipping Campden and Moreton-in-Marsh, which are mentioned in the book...so that's fun!

The Nature of the Beast

The latest Louise Penny--reading her is like the very best kind of meal and dessert rolled into one. She is such a fine craftswoman with her writing and the characters never cease to evolve and thus sustain my interest. Set once again in the tiny East Townships village of Three Pines, a local boy who tells too many tall tales opens a can of worms when he discovers something in the woods that someone--maybe several some ones--will kill to keep secret. The story of a missile launcher of mythical proportions being hidden in the Canadian woods seemed so far-fetched, that I was surprised to find in the Author's note that it was based on a real event.
Gamache has received numerous offers to give up his early retirement--come back to the Surete as head of the major crimes unit is just one of these. What is to be "next" in his and Reine-Marie's life? She also gave up an esteemed career. The door is left open to see what the future holds, even as we see Gamache letting go of his former role as head of homicide and allowing those he trained, Lacoste and Jean-Guy, to carry on as he taught them--with compassion for the victims, curiosity about the perpetrators, and thinking as the major tool for solving the puzzles.
Everyone has secrets it seems. We continue to learn more about the mad poet, Ruth, and the local grocer, Monsieur Beliveau, gets some development for the first time. Jean-Guy and Annie have a happy surprise that makes the moral dilemma faced by Gamache towards the end of the story all the more terrifying. I have been hooked since I read the first book in this series, Still Life, and Penny just never disappoints.