No Law in the Land

Knights Templar #27

by Michael Jecks

When King Edward II is told that his wife has defied him & remained in France with their son, the king flies into a rage. It is Sir Baldwin de Furnshill & his friend Simon Puttock, who have broken the news to him & are no longer in the king's favour. They return to their homes in Devon, but find that outlaws hold sway in the land.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Medieval, Historical, Detective, Crime

384 pages, Hardcover

First published June 3, 2009

About the author

Michael 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From 1998 he organised the CWA Debut Dagger competition for two years, helping unpublished authors to win their first contracts He judged the CWA/Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for three years.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.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is a direct quote from a 1325 journal which mentions the crimes, terrorism and atrocities described in this novel - and this series. Here Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock return from Paris with the news that King Edward II's wife and son, whom they were meant to fetch home, are voluntarily staying in France, and possibly plotting an invasion. Dismissed without reward or thanks :) they return home to Devon where all is not well. Shortly before their arrival a fairly large party of clerics, men, women and children had been found slaughtered in a woods just off the road to Exeter. Even the dogs were killed. No clues from the initial investigation. So Sir Baldwin and Simon go after the killers.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this 27th installment of A Knights Templar Mysteries, we find ourselves still in the year 1325 and still dealing with a very broken and dangerous political and legal system. King Edward II is still under the thrall of his lover, Sir Hugh le Despenser, whose minions run roughshod over the law.

When Sir Baldwin, Simon, and Bishop Walter report to the king that their mission to retrieve the queen and his son and heir has failed, Edward has a fit of rage and dismisses them from his sight. He is even angrier when he finds out the rest of the others in the delegation have gone over to the queen's side, with Sir Roger Mortimer as their leader, and remained in France. Mortimer is the sworn enemy of Despenser.

Back in Devon, the home county of Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his friend Simon Puttock lawlessness is also rampant. Fresh back home, they find themselves in an investigation into the slaughter of nineteen men in an apparent robbery. There was an enormous amount of silver on its way to the king and escorted by both an armed guard and two monks.

A violent former knight and friend of Despenser, Sir Robert de Traci and his equally violent son Basil, have become outlaws and are suspected of the crime. They will stop at nothing and arrange for Simon's son-in-law Peter to be arrested and charged with treason, and his daughter Edith is kidnapped in an attempt to stop Sir Baldwin, Edith's godfather, and Simon from investigating the crime.

As they get closer to a solution, the bodies pile up, and the stakes get higher because both Peter and Edith are in real danger of death unless the two friends stop. But, of course, we all know Sir Baldwin will not let it go unsolved, even with his friendship also on the line.

Although this book is not as complex as the last one, there is a major shift in it, a shift I never would have expected, and it's worrisome. With four more books in the series, I can hope it is resolved, but one never knows because the author can decide as with real life, some things can change with lasting impact.

Of course, I've barely scratched the surface of the crimes, situations, and people in this book. There is a lot going on that I haven't mentioned. I love this series, and I can say this one, with all the crimes and twists, is just as good as the others. I can't wait to see what's next in the 28th of the series.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six-word Review: Power hunger threatens Baldwin and Puttock.

One of the better Knights Templar Mysteries as Baldwin and Puttock are blamed for events over which they have no control. As in all of Jeck's books, the research makes the story believable with excellent characterizations, lots of exciting action, and insight into the society of 14th century England.

Unfortunately, the last chapter leaves a number of issues up in the air. I hope they are resolved in the next volume in the series: The Bishop Must die.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeck finally included the historical background in an introduction so the narrative flowed a little better in this one without all of the background information. But there were parts of the story that didn't make sense. Despenser has Simon's daughter kidnapped to influence Simon's input about something but never notifies Simon about the kidnapping and why.

[Leighbeth Winter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Usually I'm a big fan of M.J.'s books, but this one, I found a bit difficult to stay focused. He keeps jumping back and forth from character/place to another character/place throughout the book. Wasn't till the last 130 pages that I found myself gripped by the characters and their predicaments.

[Puzzle Doctor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a traditional whodunit but all the stronger for it. A great historical crime series - full review at classicmystery.wordpress.com

[Helle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may have mentioned in one of my other reviews of Jecks’ Templar series, that I like it better when the focus is more on the mystery and less on the historical details. I am not saying I was wrong at the time (I believe it was #24), but I do believe that the balance between the two is perfect in No Law in the Land.

It’s 1325 and times are difficult , relations are tense and England is torn between its King and Queen. Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his good friend Simon Puttock are finally back on home ground in Devon, and are immediately confronted with the horrible slaughter of a group of travelers. They try not to get involved, but when Simon’s family is threatened, it becomes personal.

This is a clever mystery in a fantastic setting, both in timeline and location. It is very well researched and well written: an excellent read.

[P.D.R. Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Michael Jecks’s newest novel in his Knight Templars series, involving Baldwin de Furnshill, knight and gentleman, and his friend, commoner, Simon Puttock. The series of murder mysteries has been very popular and the novels are a good solid read, full of action, adventure and a taste of another era. ‘No Law in the Land’ is a more violent story than the previous novels, very much a ‘history as dirt, filth and man’s inhumanity to man’ novel. The title of the novel is a direct quote from a journal of 1325 in which the writer detailed most of the year’s atrocities. Michael Jecks researches carefully and in an author’s note he quotes chapter and verse of the actual violent facts and incidents he uses for ‘No Law in the Land’. It’s pretty bleak and sad to think we haven’t improved much since the 14th century.

The year is 1325 and chaos reigns under a weak King Edward II. The King has a vicious temper and lives in fear of his powerful nobles. Anyone annoying him loses their land and rights. Recently he’s been hounding a large number of his noblemen and gentlemen, trying to deprive them of their power. Stripped of their castle, manors and lands the armed knights and their armed retainers have to find ways to live. Many turned rogue and became outlaws.

Simon and Baldwin are heading home in disgrace after a trip to France on behalf of the King. They failed to persuade his Queen to return home with his son and heir. Back in Devon they come across a massacre which involves two monks, one of whom is the Cardinal’s right hand man. The Cardinal is furious and Simon and Baldwin are forced to investigate. However the outlaw culprits are friends of the King’s closet advisor, a singularly nasty Sir Hugh le Despenser, and cannot be touched. Simon and Baldwin decide to leave things alone, until Simon’s daughter is kidnapped by the villains. After several battles, a siege and a castle storming all ends well for Simon and Baldwin.

For those who like action and adventure in their historicals Michael Jecks provides plenty of it. His characters have grown and developed during the series and his plots are believable, tightly written, and enjoyable. I’d cheerfully recommend ‘No Law in the Land’ as a good book to curl up and read, much better than the junk on T.V. Perhaps some enlightened TV producer will discover Jeck’s novels and give us something worth watching for a change.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book by Michael Jecks that I have read. While I wasn't as enthralled as I was when I read the first, I did like many things about this book. It is a mystery, but 99% of the whodunit aspect is already known by the reader. There are one or two little surprises, but for the most part, the mystery is not the driving force of this book. How could it be when the reader knows who committed the crime and generally why? What is highly enjoyable about this book is how skillfully Jecks immerses the reader into the muck, grime, harshness, and difficult world that was the 1300s in England. He uses such great language and imagery that I always felt like I was in that little village or with the knights as they trudged along the countryside, exhausted and determined to solve the deaths of a group of travellers.

And that is what this story is about. A large group of travellers are brutally murdered and from there, a great deal unfolds. Jecks is able to deal with machinations in the king's castle, a fight for a leadership position in a local abbey, a knight who has turned to crime, and a journey home for some other knights.

Jecks has done a wonderful research job and has a great ability to write flowing sentences and paragraphs. The book wasn't a fast read for me and I wasn't turning the pages to find out who did it. I already knew that. What kept me going was seeing how Jecks unfolded the story and the immersion into this world. It's a good read for those interested in this world.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not an easy read. It was not a book I read straight through, from start to finish, without interruptions from other books.

One of the problems of reading one book in the middle of a series is that you get enough of the backstory to make sense of some of the characters' actions, but not all. Of course, it wouldn't be practical to rehash all 26 previous books, just be aware that characters will refer to events in prior books, and you may be left hanging a little. Because I didn't know how all the people were connected, I had a hard time in the beginning keeping track of the storyline.

There are a lot of characters in this book, and some appear, then are dropped for a while. Each contributes a bit of information to the main storyline, but often with a different viewpoint. There are times when the storyline seems to backtrack, and repeat scenes from a different perspective, especially towards the end.

This book did give me a good sense of the history of an era I know little about, without beating me over the head with facts, facts and more facts. It's also interesting because I recently read a book about a modern day coroner in England (The Coroner) and it is neat to see how the job has evolved over hundreds of years.

[Michael Jecks · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book Baldwin and Simon return to Devon, but on informing the King that they not only could not escort his wife back to England, but had to leave his son, the Prince of Wales, under her care in Paris, the King flies into a rage.
At home again, they discover that outlaws now hold sway over much of the county. Sir Richard, who was a knight from the King's own household, has turned to outlawry, and when a pair of clerics are found brutally murdered, Baldwin and Simon must investigate, no matter how dangerous it may be for them.
The fun for me is always to take actual events and make use of them. In this, the violence and shocking killings were taken from actual examples. It's still shocking to me to see how the country began to fall apart, and how a weak King could see his realm disintegrate so quickly under the hands of the clans of knightly families such as the Folvilles and Cotterills.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a serial book of the Knight Templar by Michael Jecks a very accomplished writer. I really enjoyed how he set the detective police well, knight procedure novel in the fifthteen century. The details are very accurate and the characters are compelling.

I would like to see more of the nasty truth and feel that the author pulls his punches when writing about the dark age. After all, the title itself did say No Law in Land, and he did admit to saying some of the things are so nasty and terrible that his readers would find it hard to believe. I think he would have been more excellent if he just went ahead and reveal more of the truths of what goes on during the dark age, because like I learn many times, people are dark most of the time.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the Templar books quite a bit, and although I'm reading them a bit out of order from the library as they become available, they are an interesting read each time. The slowly developing story of the misery and horror of King Edward II's reign is difficult to witness at times, particularly the evil of the Despenser family and the corruption across the land.

This isn't the strongest book in the series, and it spends so much time focusing on other characters and events that at times its difficult to tell who is who or care much about the events. But it still was satisfying and the final mystery's revelation was strong and tragic.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sort of bought this book on a whim, something I do very rarely. However, I was pleased to find it was a rather good read, wand the author is obviously knowledgable in the subject. The book is far in a series, a fact I didn't know until halfway through the book, and perhaps I would have had more of a connection with the characters had I read the previous books.

I plan on picking up the rest of the series, :)

[Jim]

Another series of books that I enjoy. These are set in 14th Century Europe, mostly in England. Murder, political intrigue, history on every page, of course I enjoy them. This is just one in the whole series.

[James Krauss · Rating 5 out of 5]

No Law in the Land was, as usual for Jecks, a wonderfully written book that keeps you wanting to keep reading. There was a lot of action and I can see a relationship to our own country in modern times. Jecks is maybe one of the best if not the best writers of medieval mysteries the is.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good lots of mediaeval atmosphere without being at all twee. I enjoyed this even more than the rest in the series.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

can't wait for the next in the series

[Katrina Bergherm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd...mystery story with knights and castles. Not a bad book but not great either.

[Bonnie Beffa · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my all time favorite authors

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book but all Michael Jecks are. If you like historical crime novels these are brill

[ricky]

Excellent read

Two superb main characters and a host of supporting ones from history, and a real sense of the atmosphere of the times, makes this another great addition to the series.