Painted in Blood

Brother Petroc #3

by Pip Vaughan-Hughes

'Pip Vaughan-Hughes has given us a monk, a corpse, a sinister Templar and a terrific adventure that romps across mediaeval Christendom' Bernard Cornwell

1242 AD and Europe is in flames once more. The King of France, Louis, has decided to stamp out the heretic faith of the Cathars once and for all. The trouble is that Petroc and his mentor, Captain de Montalhac are on the wrong side...

For the Captain can no longer ignore his Cathar roots and heads for the Languedoc and war with his former patron. He takes with him not only gold, but also something far more valuable - a mysterious relic depicting the face of Jesus. This 'Cathar Crucifix' will rally a full-scale rebellion against the French Monarchy.

But Petroc can see the danger to his friend. Louis possesses a huge army and the necessary ruthlessness to crush all in his path. Now - as Montalhac retreats to the mountain fastness of Montsegur - only Petroc can save his friend - and perhaps the most sacred relic of all...

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Mystery

394 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 19, 2009

About the author

Pip grew up in South Devon. He studied medieval history at London University and later worked as a reader for a literary agency when he wasn't dabbling as a bike messenger, saxophonist, food critic, gardener and restaurant owner. He now lives in Vermont with his wife and children.

Reviews

[Mavis Hewitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this because author lived in same area of Devon as me. Didn't realise it was 3rd in series, would probably have been better (but not imperative) to have read other 2 first. Historically very interesting, slightly slow moving, (hence my 7 days to read), but aim to read the earlier 2.

[saeedeh · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the bookshop I read the first page and I misunderstood it for a battle scene or an injured general...
aaaand when I came home I continued and realized that scene, was a " forging fake relics" scene :|

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable romp through mediaeval history. I did rather skip over the battle scenes, but the core story is excellent.

[Chris Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read that never really gets going. I have not read any of the other Petroc books but that didn 19t seem to matter as what had happened before was woven into the narrative. My main gripe was that there was a lot of talk and the action seemed to be rush or just glossed over. The characterisation was good but sometimes it could have been built with less pages of dialogue as some did not really add to the story. The blurb is rather misleading too as it makes it sound like an action packed adventure on a grand scale, however despite the amount of travel the story feels rather low level and the main focus of Jesus death cloth appears as a side story until the end of the book. Interesting enough but not the mystery laden religious intrigue I was wanting. Only just three stars!

[Keith Currie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical novel on Louis the saint's 'crusade' against the Cathars of Toulouse and third in the Petroc of Aunesford series. The author is at his best when describing the grit and reality of medieval battles and their aftermaths, and at his worst with rather too much back story and references to previous volumes. I made the mistake some years ago of reading the fourth book in this series first (thinking it was a standalone novel) and discovered that was not a wise thing to do.

[Debbi Skeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little slow to get going, but this book left me wanting to read the next one. I'm starting to connect more to the characters more than I did in the second of this series.