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Knights Templar #19
The Butcher of St Peter's
When a villager's property is burned to the ground, the locals think no further misfortune could befall him—until they find his son's body among the ruins. As a sinister twist emerges in what seemed to be a tragic accident, Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock arrive to unravel the mystery. But then threats are made against Sir Baldwin's own family, and the investigation becomes a lot more personal.
416 pages, Paperback
First published May 2, 2005
29 people are currently reading
332 people want to read
About the author
Michael Jecks
122 books624 followersMichael Jecks is a best-selling writer of historical novels. The son of an Actuary, and the youngest of four brothers, he worked in the computer industry before becoming a novelist full time in 1994
He is the author of the internationally popular Templar series, perhaps the longest crime series written by a living author. Unusually, the series looks again at actual events and murders committed about the early fourteenth century, a fabulous time of treachery, civil war, deceit and corruption. Famine, war and disease led to widespread despair, and yet the people showed themselves to be resilient. The series is available as ebooks and all paper formats from Harper Collins, Headline and Simon and Schuster. More recently he has completed his Vintener Trilogy, three stories in his Bloody Mary series, and a new Crusades story set in 1096, Pilgrim's War, following some of the people in the first Crusade on their long pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He has also written a highly acclaimed modern spy thriller, Act of Vengeance.
His books have won him international acclaim and in 2007 his Death Ship of Dartmouth was shortlisted for the Harrogate prize for the best crime novel of the year.
A member of the Society of Authors and Royal Literary Society, Jecks was the Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association in 2004-2005. In 2005 he became a member of the Detection Club.
From 1998 he organised the CWA Debut Dagger competition for two years, helping unpublished authors to win their first contracts He judged the CWA/Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for three years.
Michael Jecks is a popular speaker at literary festivals and historical meetings. He is a popular after-dinner and motivational speaker and has spoken at events from Colombia to Italy, Portugal to Alaska.
His own highlights are: being the Grand Marshal of the first parade at the New Orleans 2014 Mardi Gras, designing the Michael Jecks fountain pen for Conway Stewart, and being the International Guest of Honour at the Crime Writers of Canada Bloody Words convention.
Michael lives, walks, writes and paints in North Dartmoor.
He is the author of the internationally popular Templar series, perhaps the longest crime series written by a living author. Unusually, the series looks again at actual events and murders committed about the early fourteenth century, a fabulous time of treachery, civil war, deceit and corruption. Famine, war and disease led to widespread despair, and yet the people showed themselves to be resilient. The series is available as ebooks and all paper formats from Harper Collins, Headline and Simon and Schuster. More recently he has completed his Vintener Trilogy, three stories in his Bloody Mary series, and a new Crusades story set in 1096, Pilgrim's War, following some of the people in the first Crusade on their long pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He has also written a highly acclaimed modern spy thriller, Act of Vengeance.
His books have won him international acclaim and in 2007 his Death Ship of Dartmouth was shortlisted for the Harrogate prize for the best crime novel of the year.
A member of the Society of Authors and Royal Literary Society, Jecks was the Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association in 2004-2005. In 2005 he became a member of the Detection Club.
From 1998 he organised the CWA Debut Dagger competition for two years, helping unpublished authors to win their first contracts He judged the CWA/Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for three years.
Michael Jecks is a popular speaker at literary festivals and historical meetings. He is a popular after-dinner and motivational speaker and has spoken at events from Colombia to Italy, Portugal to Alaska.
His own highlights are: being the Grand Marshal of the first parade at the New Orleans 2014 Mardi Gras, designing the Michael Jecks fountain pen for Conway Stewart, and being the International Guest of Honour at the Crime Writers of Canada Bloody Words convention.
Michael lives, walks, writes and paints in North Dartmoor.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 24, 2012
I spent some time in America in the early 2000s, and during one fairly lengthy signing tour, I began to hear about the Washington shootings. Eventually, the police found the guys involved, and I began to think about whether I could incorporate that aspect of modern life in a book. But there was another short news item (while I was blearily lying back on an uncomfortable bed somewhere, flicking through channels and hitting CNN) about someone breaking into houses. Not hurting anyone, but breaking in and apparently observing people in their beds. It made me think: how would I react, if I found someone in my house, looking over my children? And that, really, was the start point of this book. A random news clip while I was thinking about two murderers on a killing spree.
December 13, 2018
To me, it seems that Michael Jecks’ portrayals of the medieval period is significantly darker than those of Ellis Peters. To be sure, Peters’ Brother Cadfael encounters disease and lack of sanitation, but Jecks’ Sir Baldwin de Furnshill makes one smell it and step in it. Peters’ Cadfael offers a more cerebral image of a more violent and repressive era while Jecks’ Sir Baldwin viscerally shoves the gore and atrocities in the reader’s face. That being said, both series of medieval mysteries have their place and I enjoy reading from both, depending on my moods.
The Butcher of St. Peters doesn’t refer to the expected victim of murder [It is, after all, a murder mystery.] but rather to a major suspect in said murder (or murders). And, while Jecks pleads historical grounds for the kinds of abuses (both political and ecclesiastical) described in the book, it is rather a cautionary tale on morality, despite delineating an unexpectedly cavalier attitude toward certain sins than one might expect. And, since The Butcher of St. Peters describes motives for a myriad of suspects from cathedral and cassocks to brothels and bailiffs, it does a good job of preparing the reader for the final resolution. Not that the final resolution will be satisfying to those looking for a “happy” ending, but within the limits of authentic justice within feudal society, the resolution does provide a “just” ending. Of course, there is a happy ending for some folks, just less than one normally expects.
The Butcher of St. Peters takes place within Jecks’ fictional chronology well after the last novel I read [admittedly out-of-sequence], Belladonna at Belstone. The latter gave an interesting perspective on life within a convent while the former builds on a historical rivalry/conflict between the wandering priors and priories and clerics and cathedral. This rivalry was fascinating to me as I was unaware as this dispute over burial rites.
This novel also seems to deal better with the psychological aspects of crime, greed, jealousy, revenge, and violence. There is a sibling rivalry in The Butcher of St. Peters that is as unsettling as it is vivid. It is unsettling because it features the kind of broken relationship that has happened again and again throughout history. It is also unsettling in its depiction of people who are pulled further and further into the whirlpool of self-destructive behavior and the casual display of misogynistic behavior by husbands treating their wives as property.
The Butcher of St. Peters offered me more thought-provoking appetizers than the average historical mystery.
The Butcher of St. Peters doesn’t refer to the expected victim of murder [It is, after all, a murder mystery.] but rather to a major suspect in said murder (or murders). And, while Jecks pleads historical grounds for the kinds of abuses (both political and ecclesiastical) described in the book, it is rather a cautionary tale on morality, despite delineating an unexpectedly cavalier attitude toward certain sins than one might expect. And, since The Butcher of St. Peters describes motives for a myriad of suspects from cathedral and cassocks to brothels and bailiffs, it does a good job of preparing the reader for the final resolution. Not that the final resolution will be satisfying to those looking for a “happy” ending, but within the limits of authentic justice within feudal society, the resolution does provide a “just” ending. Of course, there is a happy ending for some folks, just less than one normally expects.
The Butcher of St. Peters takes place within Jecks’ fictional chronology well after the last novel I read [admittedly out-of-sequence], Belladonna at Belstone. The latter gave an interesting perspective on life within a convent while the former builds on a historical rivalry/conflict between the wandering priors and priories and clerics and cathedral. This rivalry was fascinating to me as I was unaware as this dispute over burial rites.
This novel also seems to deal better with the psychological aspects of crime, greed, jealousy, revenge, and violence. There is a sibling rivalry in The Butcher of St. Peters that is as unsettling as it is vivid. It is unsettling because it features the kind of broken relationship that has happened again and again throughout history. It is also unsettling in its depiction of people who are pulled further and further into the whirlpool of self-destructive behavior and the casual display of misogynistic behavior by husbands treating their wives as property.
The Butcher of St. Peters offered me more thought-provoking appetizers than the average historical mystery.
July 11, 2020
Baldwin is still recovering in Exetwr from a wound suffered at the end of the previous book. When an unpleasant serjeant is killed he sets out to investigate. Sir Peregrin is the new Coroner much to Baldwins distaste. A lot gorier than some of the others, and one of the bad guys was really REALLY bad!
April 12, 2021
Review to come.
Rating: Solid 4/5 stars.
Not the best of the Knights Templar mysteries, but this book is loads better than 'The Chapel of Bones'. I wish that Jecks would develop his women characters more. It's book 19 and Jeanne sounds like all the minor women characters that make up this book...
Rating: Solid 4/5 stars.
Not the best of the Knights Templar mysteries, but this book is loads better than 'The Chapel of Bones'. I wish that Jecks would develop his women characters more. It's book 19 and Jeanne sounds like all the minor women characters that make up this book...
April 8, 2022
Blood will tell!
Though it started slowly, the tension built & finally exploded! The trail of destruction & blood left by one psychopath brought Exeter to it’s knees! So many twists & turns on the way to the truth! So much blood! Sir Baldwin is at his best, joined the coroner & the bailiff, and will not rest til the Butcher is stopped!
Though it started slowly, the tension built & finally exploded! The trail of destruction & blood left by one psychopath brought Exeter to it’s knees! So many twists & turns on the way to the truth! So much blood! Sir Baldwin is at his best, joined the coroner & the bailiff, and will not rest til the Butcher is stopped!
June 3, 2021
Brilliant as previously
Murder, sorrow, love & laughs, all wound up in intriguing plots with as many twists & turns as the streets & back alleyways of the settings. The main characters feel like friends.
Murder, sorrow, love & laughs, all wound up in intriguing plots with as many twists & turns as the streets & back alleyways of the settings. The main characters feel like friends.
August 27, 2021
Back on better form, but still not up to the standard of the early books in the series.
The violence meted out to one character was gratuitous, in my estimation, but that seems to be the way the stories are going.
The violence meted out to one character was gratuitous, in my estimation, but that seems to be the way the stories are going.
December 26, 2024
Exeter 1323 and so many dead bodies. Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King’s Peace knows that finding the murderer will be difficult. The city is on edge, the Canons from the Cathedral and the Friars are in dispute over who gets to bury someone.
January 6, 2018
My review
As always a good read fast moving and full of detail. I always enjoy this author's work and look forward to reading more
As always a good read fast moving and full of detail. I always enjoy this author's work and look forward to reading more
February 7, 2018
Full review at classicmystery.wordpress.com
October 22, 2019
One of the better installments in the series.
April 9, 2020
Butcher of St Peters
Another well written book full of twists and turns and a surprising ending the mystery was in the detail , brilliant
Another well written book full of twists and turns and a surprising ending the mystery was in the detail , brilliant
July 26, 2021
If you enjoy magnificent historicalfiction books, you'll love this novel.
March 11, 2014
Michael Jecks is the NEW International Guest of Honour for the 2014 Bloody Words Mystery conference (Toronto, June 6-8), so I wanted to read some of his work. The detective/main character is Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, a former Knight Templar who was sickened by the carnage at Acre, and by the persecution of his order. He is now the Keeper of the King's Peace for the area. I enjoyed the plotting and detail of the book, but was disturbed by one of the characters, who seems to be pure evil. (Personally, I don't like to read about psychopaths.) The hard life of the ordinary person is also difficult to contemplate, but as in most mysteries, the evildoer gets his just reward.
February 14, 2012
One can almost smell the odours of medieval Exeter in this novel of murder and intrigue in the early fourteenth century. Not much brotherly love or Christian charity among the friars and clergy in the cathdral of the time, and most of the seven deadly sins are committed at some point. There's not much mistaking the real villain of the piece, but there are some very clever twists in the plot, particularly at the end.
October 24, 2009
I just love Michael Jecks books. The characters are believable and the medieval research is peerless. The murders mount up and up and I never get tired of them. These mysteries NEVER disappoint. I always go back to a Jecks book to entertain and teach me something else about the history of the period I might not know. Number 19 and counting, may they go on forever!!!!!
February 24, 2016
Large cast of characters, which I had trouble getting sorted out in my mind for a good few pages, but after that, really wanted the 'baddie' to get his comeuppance. Not exactly a who dun it, more a how will they find him out.
April 27, 2009
book 19
January 4, 2012
Medieval mystery. Score another hit for Michael Jecks!
September 21, 2015
hard to believe, but this one is bloodier than the others
January 22, 2017
Good
Enjoy all of these books but lost a star for the gore, was it really so violent in those times?
Enjoy all of these books but lost a star for the gore, was it really so violent in those times?
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews