What do you think?
Rate this book
Knights Templar #7
Squire Throwleigh's Heir
Sir Baldwin is preparing for his marriage when he learns that a guest, Sir Roger, Squire of Throwleigh, has died. Herbert, only five years old, is heir. But his mother unfairly blames him for her husband's death. Baldwin is concerned about the boy's lack of protection.
When Herbert is killed by a horse and cart in an apparent accident only days later, Baldwin and Simon suspect foul play. They travel to Throwleigh to investigate, and discover a shocking sequence of events and terrible motives.
When Herbert is killed by a horse and cart in an apparent accident only days later, Baldwin and Simon suspect foul play. They travel to Throwleigh to investigate, and discover a shocking sequence of events and terrible motives.
308 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 1999
21 people are currently reading
390 people want to read
About the author
Michael Jecks
121 books622 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From 1998 he organised the CWA Debut Dagger competition for two years, helping unpublished authors to win their first contracts He judged the CWA/Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for three years.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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
May 15, 2017
I don't know why but I really enjoy this series set in 14th century England. The writing is OK. The plot is OK. The characterizations are OK. I guess it's the totality that grabs me.
In this book, Bailiff Simon Puttock and Keeper of the King's Peace Sir Baldwin Furnshill attend the funeral of Roger, Squire of Thornleigh in the midst of Baldwin's wedding preparations. At the funeral, Baldwin is touched by the fact that the new Squire, 5 year old Herbert, seems to be very vulnerable. Sure enough, soon after the wedding to his lovely Jeanne, he and Simon are told of Herbert's accidental death. They head for Thornleigh and discover that Herbert was actually murdered.
There are no end of suspects and the rest of the story involves the two men sorting things out. Just when it appears they have the perpetrator, something changes their minds. The process is painful and the eventual solution is surprising.
Jecks does a superb job of setting the scene. He has obviously done extensive research. Both his descriptions of the lives of the characters and their mindsets are well done. He also saves a little shocker for the final chapter.
I believe this book would be enjoyable whether someone has read the preceding books in the series or not.
In this book, Bailiff Simon Puttock and Keeper of the King's Peace Sir Baldwin Furnshill attend the funeral of Roger, Squire of Thornleigh in the midst of Baldwin's wedding preparations. At the funeral, Baldwin is touched by the fact that the new Squire, 5 year old Herbert, seems to be very vulnerable. Sure enough, soon after the wedding to his lovely Jeanne, he and Simon are told of Herbert's accidental death. They head for Thornleigh and discover that Herbert was actually murdered.
There are no end of suspects and the rest of the story involves the two men sorting things out. Just when it appears they have the perpetrator, something changes their minds. The process is painful and the eventual solution is surprising.
Jecks does a superb job of setting the scene. He has obviously done extensive research. Both his descriptions of the lives of the characters and their mindsets are well done. He also saves a little shocker for the final chapter.
I believe this book would be enjoyable whether someone has read the preceding books in the series or not.
November 16, 2011
This was the first book I wrote after moving to Devon to write full time. It was based on an area where I went walking each morning, and as such I've always had an especial fondness for the story.
A squire dies, falling from his horse, and his five year old son inherits. But when he dies, it's clear that there is something else going on. Baldwin and Simon are determined to find out who could have wanted to kill the father and son, and the tangled web of motives is baffling at first, but then they come to their shocking conclusions.
It was a hard book to write, this. The basic premise was one I had not looked into before, but the plot is very strong, the characters engaging, the conclusion gripping and unsettling.
A squire dies, falling from his horse, and his five year old son inherits. But when he dies, it's clear that there is something else going on. Baldwin and Simon are determined to find out who could have wanted to kill the father and son, and the tangled web of motives is baffling at first, but then they come to their shocking conclusions.
It was a hard book to write, this. The basic premise was one I had not looked into before, but the plot is very strong, the characters engaging, the conclusion gripping and unsettling.
August 7, 2008
SQUIRE THROWLEIGH’S HEIR (Hist. Mys-Sir Baldwin/Simon Puttock-England-1321) - VG
Jecks, Michael – 7th in series
Headline, 1999, UK Hardcover – ISBN: 0747221472
First Sentence: If he’d known that this was the day he was going to die, Squire Roger of Throwleigh would have behaved more coolly, but lacking this prescience, he lost his temper instead.
The wedding of Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King’s Peace, is fast approaching. His good friends, Bailiff Simon Puttock and his wife, have come to help him celebrate. Before the wedding, they receive news that one of their expected guests, Roger, Squire of Throwleigh, has died leaving behind a wife and five-year-old son and heir. Soon after the Squire’s funeral, they receive news the child is also dead. Baldwin comes to believe the child’s death wasn’t an accident, but murder.
This book was really a traditional country house mystery set in the Middle Ages. The quality of Jecks writing and research are clear in the details of the story.
The story is very well plotted with twists right up to the last paragraph. There were plenty of suspects, each with a good motive. Jecks does a wonderful job of balancing the harshness of the period with the friendship of Baldwin and Simon.
Baldwin’s questions about his marriage, having been a Templar Knight, provide some interesting questions and insights into the character. This series improves with every book and I’m delighted to know I’ve many books ahead of me.
Jecks, Michael – 7th in series
Headline, 1999, UK Hardcover – ISBN: 0747221472
First Sentence: If he’d known that this was the day he was going to die, Squire Roger of Throwleigh would have behaved more coolly, but lacking this prescience, he lost his temper instead.
The wedding of Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King’s Peace, is fast approaching. His good friends, Bailiff Simon Puttock and his wife, have come to help him celebrate. Before the wedding, they receive news that one of their expected guests, Roger, Squire of Throwleigh, has died leaving behind a wife and five-year-old son and heir. Soon after the Squire’s funeral, they receive news the child is also dead. Baldwin comes to believe the child’s death wasn’t an accident, but murder.
This book was really a traditional country house mystery set in the Middle Ages. The quality of Jecks writing and research are clear in the details of the story.
The story is very well plotted with twists right up to the last paragraph. There were plenty of suspects, each with a good motive. Jecks does a wonderful job of balancing the harshness of the period with the friendship of Baldwin and Simon.
Baldwin’s questions about his marriage, having been a Templar Knight, provide some interesting questions and insights into the character. This series improves with every book and I’m delighted to know I’ve many books ahead of me.
February 13, 2013
I liked it, just like all the other Sir Baldwin novels. But it is a little confusing if not off-putting that there is a character called Godfrey in the sixth novel (The Leper's Return) who is the first victim and in novel No seven there is another main character by the name of Godfrey. If you read one right after the other it is a little weird.
March 2, 2009
This one has an intersting twist. thoroughly enjoyed it.
April 9, 2023
Many mysteries are solved in Squire Throwleigh’s Heir and many characters return to a pleasant normalcy of life (though not all), but any readers looking for a happy ending should avoid this volume in the Michael Jecks’ oeuvre. This is a carefully crafted mystery with “red herrings” which may not be red with the blood of murder but are worthy of the crimson color guilt, nonetheless. For example, one character immediately reminded me of the villain trope inspired by the title of an old Bela Fleck instrumental (if I gave the title, it would be a spoiler). Said character was guilty of a crime of one sort or another, but not the murder. Yet, circumstantial evidence kept surrounding her or him.
There are two major deaths in Squire Throwleigh’s Heir, one of the manor’s lord and the other of his heir. The former is so clearly of natural causes that it is disregarded by the coroner and the latter so obviously an accident that the coroner attributes it to an accident. Yet, at least one of these and possibly both, are not what they seem. And I can’t ever remember reading a mystery, historical or otherwise, with such a rich roster of suspects. Readers can get whiplash focusing on one or another. No one except the two protagonists (Simon and Baldwin) and their wives seems beyond suspicion. And, as far as a mystery is concerned, that’s just the way I like them. And, even though the groundwork was fairly laid, I must confess that I did not see the result coming (nor was I entirely pleased with the revelation of the one(s) responsible for the murder).
As with many of Michael Jecks’ mysteries, Squire Throwleigh’s Heir reveals not just social inequities in the medieval system but horrendous injustices. One tenant is a suspect, early and often, because of both “Conventionary Tenure” (where tenants of longstanding could be evicted because someone offered higher rent) and the arbitrary revocation of a peasant’s granted freedom when the lord who granted that freedom died.
Frankly, Squire Throwleigh’s Heir was a bit of an unsettling story for me. Crafted as beautifully as it was and gilded with exquisite medieval detail, the compounded tragedies—mostly personal, but also economic, rather unnerved me enough that I didn’t get the pleasure out of this novel that I usually do with Jecks’ work.
There are two major deaths in Squire Throwleigh’s Heir, one of the manor’s lord and the other of his heir. The former is so clearly of natural causes that it is disregarded by the coroner and the latter so obviously an accident that the coroner attributes it to an accident. Yet, at least one of these and possibly both, are not what they seem. And I can’t ever remember reading a mystery, historical or otherwise, with such a rich roster of suspects. Readers can get whiplash focusing on one or another. No one except the two protagonists (Simon and Baldwin) and their wives seems beyond suspicion. And, as far as a mystery is concerned, that’s just the way I like them. And, even though the groundwork was fairly laid, I must confess that I did not see the result coming (nor was I entirely pleased with the revelation of the one(s) responsible for the murder).
As with many of Michael Jecks’ mysteries, Squire Throwleigh’s Heir reveals not just social inequities in the medieval system but horrendous injustices. One tenant is a suspect, early and often, because of both “Conventionary Tenure” (where tenants of longstanding could be evicted because someone offered higher rent) and the arbitrary revocation of a peasant’s granted freedom when the lord who granted that freedom died.
Frankly, Squire Throwleigh’s Heir was a bit of an unsettling story for me. Crafted as beautifully as it was and gilded with exquisite medieval detail, the compounded tragedies—mostly personal, but also economic, rather unnerved me enough that I didn’t get the pleasure out of this novel that I usually do with Jecks’ work.
June 25, 2020
One of my favourites. Baldwin and Jeanne are just about to get married when Squire Throwleigh falls off his horse and dies. At the funeral Baldwin gets a weird feeling that something is wring between the widow and the heir, her 5 year old son Herbert. Shortly after the wedding, his fears are founded when the young heir is killed in a seeming accident. Baldwin and Simon, complete with their wives ride off to solve the mystery. There's a mysterious Fleming that has appeared on the scene with dubious intentions to the young widow, there's the squire ne'er-do-well brother who now seems set to inherit - and his rather creepy henchman. A priest that beats the young boys harshly and could be a paedophile, the widows maid has her own axe to grind after her own young son died, and it seems that everyone had a motive to murder the young heir. The truth was unexpected and shocking, even more so when you realise that our sleuths don't uncover the *whole* truth
October 28, 2023
Medieval murder mystery, many well-developed characters, some easy to like, some easy to despise, probably better for adult, perhaps the occasional teen who might be interested.
I came upon three books from this series I’d never heard of (they were free!) and thought I’d give them a try. Not having #1, it was a good opportunity to see it they were well-written enough to read out of order. The answer is a yes! There is easily enough background given to thoroughly enjoy.
Life was very hard for the commoner back then, and customs very different. If you tend to hold people in the past accountable to today’s western standards, this isn’t the book for you. Just sayin’.
The author is good at leading us in several directions, always surprising the reader. Even when the mystery is solved, the last few sentences give a real jolt. I had to read the last paragraphs several times before I really got it. Oh my, does this kid show up in another book?
I came upon three books from this series I’d never heard of (they were free!) and thought I’d give them a try. Not having #1, it was a good opportunity to see it they were well-written enough to read out of order. The answer is a yes! There is easily enough background given to thoroughly enjoy.
Life was very hard for the commoner back then, and customs very different. If you tend to hold people in the past accountable to today’s western standards, this isn’t the book for you. Just sayin’.
The author is good at leading us in several directions, always surprising the reader. Even when the mystery is solved, the last few sentences give a real jolt. I had to read the last paragraphs several times before I really got it. Oh my, does this kid show up in another book?
March 12, 2021
I hadn't read any of this series for some years, mostly because the ones I hadn't read weren't available for e-readers at the library. I'd more-or-less forgotten about them and then this book was on my daily Bookbub email and so I looked at what my library offered for Kindle.
I enjoyed this book a lot. One thing this series offers is authenticity (as far as I know since I'm no authority). The characters aren't glamorous and come from all strata of the society of the 14th century. The grittiness of the age is conveyed. One of the books I read some years ago was set in the winter and the story made it obvious that houses couldn't be warm from the central heating we enjoy now. I felt really cold while reading it!
The plot and characters are really interesting and the solution to the mystery was a real surprise to me.
I enjoyed this book a lot. One thing this series offers is authenticity (as far as I know since I'm no authority). The characters aren't glamorous and come from all strata of the society of the 14th century. The grittiness of the age is conveyed. One of the books I read some years ago was set in the winter and the story made it obvious that houses couldn't be warm from the central heating we enjoy now. I felt really cold while reading it!
The plot and characters are really interesting and the solution to the mystery was a real surprise to me.
November 11, 2020
This book has been in my list of books to read for years now. It is the first one of Michael Jecks I read. It was a pleasant read. A medieval mystery involving a ex-Templar Knight as detective. Having read all of Brother Cadfael mysteries (by Ellis Peters), this book is of a similar style.
I have to admit that I didn't understand clearly who the murderer was, but there was something disturbing in the ending. Anyway, I have already two more books of this series in my hands and I will give it the author and Sir Baldwin Furnshill another try.
I have to admit that I didn't understand clearly who the murderer was, but there was something disturbing in the ending. Anyway, I have already two more books of this series in my hands and I will give it the author and Sir Baldwin Furnshill another try.
January 30, 2024
This is the third Jecks mystery I read. I realize he's not my "cuppa" as they say. This novel is a downer. By the end most everyone is worse for the experience, and the last page twist is one more thing to make me angry.
Odd that I normally luv a mystery set in the past. Novels by Margaret Frazer, Ellis Peters and others are enjoyable. That's why I'm so disappointed in Jecks' style. One star, squire.
Odd that I normally luv a mystery set in the past. Novels by Margaret Frazer, Ellis Peters and others are enjoyable. That's why I'm so disappointed in Jecks' style. One star, squire.
March 26, 2018
I felt the plot was not well executed. Too much "this person did it; no, this person; no, she did it; no, he did it." Red herrings are one thing and, if well done, can add excitement to the story but there is too much blundering about in this story.
January 9, 2020
Set in England in the 1300's, this mystery leaves you guessing almost to the end. I liked the setting and the fact that there was a cast of characters at the beginning of the book so that you could remind yourself of who was who.
December 4, 2017
Geweldig!
December 11, 2023
Quite the twist. The red herrings were very misleading
September 19, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in October 2000.
One of the poorest entries in Jecks' generally excellent series of medieval mysteries, Squire Throwleigh's Heir never really catches the attention. The problems start with the title, which while genuinely possible in the fourteenth century with the meaning it carries - landowner instead of apprentice knight - tends to suggest an eighteenth or nineteenth century setting (the usage, with the title followed by the surname, also suggests this). The introduction, the most interesting part of the novel, actually talks about this type of problem, as Jecks defends writing in modern English and points out that some of the words correspondents have objected to (such as "posse") are genuinely in period but have anachronistic connotations to the modern reader.
The murder in this novel is of a six year old boy, heir to the manor of Throwleigh, a few weeks after the death of his father. This event provokes an emotional reaction in both the sleuths of the series, as Simon Puttock lost his beloved son at about that age, and Baldwin Furnshill has just got married and is thinking of his own future family. However, the investigation comes over as rather mechanical, the emotional parts of the prose reading, unconvincingly, as though they have been tacked on later. (It is even sometimes difficult to work out which feelings are being attributed to which character.) Though the solution to the mystery makes sense, the way it is set up is very artificial, the number of people who have secret reasons for being near the scene of the crime assuming farcical proportions.
None of the non-series characters are particularly sympathetic, and the most interesting is so only because of his occupation. He is a man at arms, but an expert in all the different forms of medieval combat, a trainer who is rather like an Eastern martial arts teacher. Such men did exist and were much in demand as bodyguards, despite the modern picture of medieval fighting as a crude matter of strength alone. (The quarterstaff and longbow, both English specialities, were weapons demanding great skill.)
It seems strange that such an excellent series contains a novel as poor as this one, but that is partly because of raised expectations. By comparison to some of the other writers who have stepped into the historical crime novel market after the medieval mystery was popularised by Ellis Peters, Jecks is still one of the best, creating one of the strongest backgrounds of all of them.
One of the poorest entries in Jecks' generally excellent series of medieval mysteries, Squire Throwleigh's Heir never really catches the attention. The problems start with the title, which while genuinely possible in the fourteenth century with the meaning it carries - landowner instead of apprentice knight - tends to suggest an eighteenth or nineteenth century setting (the usage, with the title followed by the surname, also suggests this). The introduction, the most interesting part of the novel, actually talks about this type of problem, as Jecks defends writing in modern English and points out that some of the words correspondents have objected to (such as "posse") are genuinely in period but have anachronistic connotations to the modern reader.
The murder in this novel is of a six year old boy, heir to the manor of Throwleigh, a few weeks after the death of his father. This event provokes an emotional reaction in both the sleuths of the series, as Simon Puttock lost his beloved son at about that age, and Baldwin Furnshill has just got married and is thinking of his own future family. However, the investigation comes over as rather mechanical, the emotional parts of the prose reading, unconvincingly, as though they have been tacked on later. (It is even sometimes difficult to work out which feelings are being attributed to which character.) Though the solution to the mystery makes sense, the way it is set up is very artificial, the number of people who have secret reasons for being near the scene of the crime assuming farcical proportions.
None of the non-series characters are particularly sympathetic, and the most interesting is so only because of his occupation. He is a man at arms, but an expert in all the different forms of medieval combat, a trainer who is rather like an Eastern martial arts teacher. Such men did exist and were much in demand as bodyguards, despite the modern picture of medieval fighting as a crude matter of strength alone. (The quarterstaff and longbow, both English specialities, were weapons demanding great skill.)
It seems strange that such an excellent series contains a novel as poor as this one, but that is partly because of raised expectations. By comparison to some of the other writers who have stepped into the historical crime novel market after the medieval mystery was popularised by Ellis Peters, Jecks is still one of the best, creating one of the strongest backgrounds of all of them.
April 24, 2014
Love the way Jenks makes medieval life feel real. So many genre novels feel like transplants of the modern ethos into a background.
The young heir to the demesne of Throwleigh dies under mysterious circumstances, and Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock are sent to investigate. Once the pair deducts the young master was murdered, plenty of suspects come to the fore, enough to provide red herrings galore.
This book makes a good introduction, though deep into the series, because its easy to keep the suspects identified.
The young heir to the demesne of Throwleigh dies under mysterious circumstances, and Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock are sent to investigate. Once the pair deducts the young master was murdered, plenty of suspects come to the fore, enough to provide red herrings galore.
This book makes a good introduction, though deep into the series, because its easy to keep the suspects identified.
April 26, 2014
Finished reading " Squire Throwleigh's Heir ". Another Knight's Templar series. I have to admit I really enjoyed this one. Michael Jecks' books get better each time. I have really seen the improvement with each novel. He has a lot of side plots and evidence to stack, which he does an excellent job doing. I was even wrong about the murderer this time! I am usually right! Then you even get a little bonus surprise at the very end of the book which is basically a holy shit moment...
March 17, 2016
As always, Michael Jecks did his homework when writing Squire Throwleighs Heir. This is a very clever and interesting medieval mystery, with a nice twist. Not the best of the last Templar series, although the upcoming wedding of Sir Baldwin (and with it the necessary nerves of this Sir) does add a little extra spice.
December 15, 2013
This one was good in parts - I always love the descriptions of medieval life. This one has a wedding. No spoilers, though! - But it was also the saddest one, making it very hard to read for me. I also thought the story could have been tightened up some. I still like this series, but I hope they are not all like this one.
September 20, 2015
Upon finishing book 7, Baldwin, Simon, Hugh, and Edgar are fast becoming integral members of my reading life. This is a really enjoyable English medieval mystery series and comes highly recommended to the avid reader (over 30 books in the series).
As for this novel, it started in a bit of a slow pace, but finished in a 100 page dash. Looking forward to #8.
As for this novel, it started in a bit of a slow pace, but finished in a 100 page dash. Looking forward to #8.
March 13, 2008
I get Michael Jeck's books sent to me from by my family in England, as I do not know if you can get them in the States. He does his research. The books are excellent--very well written. I like a good mystery, and these most certainly are!
March 27, 2011
Not my favorite of this series, but still a good read.
April 27, 2009
book 7
August 18, 2009
Good mystery right up until the end.
shelved
November 14, 2014Michael Jecks' historical mystery series 'Knights Templar'. This volume: Knights Templar #7 - Squire Throwleigh's Heir.
Read
April 10, 2012Did not like the ending. At all.
February 28, 2014
The best in the series so far with subplots and suspects at every turn of the page! Definitely enjoyed this one the most and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
April 24, 2014
Another winner from Michael Jecks. Full review on my blog.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews