Product Description

Dr Courtine, an unworldly academic is visiting an old friend in the Cathedral town of Thurchester in the late 1870s. On his first night he is told the story of the town ghost, a legend deeply mired in the medieval intrigues of the Cathedral when two prominent churchmen met their deaths in unexplained circumstances. The story of dark deeds in the ancient close captures Courtine's donnish imagination, and he is also embarking on some amateur sleuthing of his own - attempting to track down an elusive 11th century manuscript to prove his theories about the life of King Alfred. Suitably distracted, Courtine becomes the unwitting witness to a terrible crime committed on his own doorstep ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75045 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Synopsis
Dr Courtine, an unworldly academic is visiting an old friend in the Cathedral town of Thurchester in the late 1870s. On his first night he is told the story of the town ghost, a legend deeply mired in the medieval intrigues of the Cathedral when two prominent churchmen met their deaths in unexplained circumstances. The story of dark deeds in the ancient close captures Courtine's donnish imagination, and he is also embarking on some amateur sleuthing of his own - attempting to track down an elusive 11th century manuscript to prove his theories about the life of King Alfred. Suitably distracted, Courtine becomes the unwitting witness to a terrible crime committed on his own doorstep...

Customer Reviews

WHAT WAS THIS ABOUT?
I found this a very difficult book to read. Not much of a story but characters aplenty! Who's Who? Gave up and binned it!!

rather boring I'm afraid
Three quarters of the way through this I just gave up reading. I just didn't care for it at all. you might like it though and I wish you well.

Pretty Average
Reading the other reviews on here makes me wonder if I missed something completely in this book. It's OK, fairly standard plot, not great dialogue but it's entertaining and gripping enough to be enjoyed.

I don't understand the 'complex' plot comments though. Sure, there's more than one plot going on and there's very obvious parallels between two of them but is that all a book needs to make it complex? It's quite easy to follow and, I found, didn't need too much concentration, unless you're hell bent on finding out who the killer is before the end of the book, which I wasn't, mainly because I find I didn't really care too much.

Unless I've been completely stupid and missed some fabulously intricate sub plot that weaves between the stories, then this is (I imagine, because I don't read too many of them) a standard historical murder mystery. If this is really as others have said, the cream of that particular crop, then I don't imagine I'll be reading too many more of them.