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Gil Cunningham #4
St Mungo's Robin
The warden of St Serf's has been found dead in the almshouse garden. He appears to have been killed during the night but there are those who are convinced he was present at that morning's service, and Gil Cunningham promptly finds himself entangled in the internal politics of the almshouse. The elderly residents, the almshouse nurse and Humphrey, her deranged favorite, have all been set against one another by the dead man's scheming — and then there is a discarded mistress and an almshouse ghost to consider as well. Tracing the dead man's last movements between the Cathedral precinct and the shores of the Clyde, Gil is both helped and hindered by his two sisters who have come to Glasgow for his wedding to Alys. Between them they widen the field of suspicion to embrace old friends from the university, a seaman home from a distant voyage, and mad Humphrey's brother. Then an uncanny event followed by the arrival of Gil's godfather, wedding guest and patron of the almshouse, precipitates the crisis. As so often, it is clever Alys who helps Gil find the ultimate solution to this mystery.
Hardcover
First published February 12, 2007
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About the author
Pat McIntosh
33 books83 followersMcIntosh was born and raised in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Having begun to write at age seven, she credits the author who inspired her to write as "probably Angus MacVicar!" She lived and worked in Glasgow for many years before moving to the west coast of Scotland. Prior to making her mark as an author, she worked as "a librarian, a receptionist for an alternative therapy centre, taught geology and palaeontology, [and] tutored for the Open University."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
December 10, 2021
Read this book in 2010, and its the 4th volume of the delightful "Gilbert Cunningham" mystery series.
In this mystery Gilbert Cunningham is set the task of investigating the murder of the warden of St Serf's.
He's found dead in the almshouse garden, as soon many suspects will come to the surface and the task for Cunningham to entangle this web of deceit and lies, and so to be able to identify the killer.
While investigating this murder case, Gilbert Cunningham is hindered by his two sisters who have come to Glasgow hor his wedding to Alys, daughter of Maistre Pierre, the master mason.
While various inhabitants of St Serf's are accusing each other of the murder of the warden, Gilbert will need to visit the Cathedral and the shores of the Clyde to find clues as tp the man's last whereabouts.
When all seems hopeless in identifying the killer, it will come to Alys to produce the answer and solution to this murder, and for Gilbert Cunningham the apprehend the warden's killer.
Highly recommended, for this is another tremendous Scottish mystery to this amazing series, in which Scots is interwoven within this story to make it real authentic, and that's why I like to call this episode: "An Excellent Scottish Mystery"!
In this mystery Gilbert Cunningham is set the task of investigating the murder of the warden of St Serf's.
He's found dead in the almshouse garden, as soon many suspects will come to the surface and the task for Cunningham to entangle this web of deceit and lies, and so to be able to identify the killer.
While investigating this murder case, Gilbert Cunningham is hindered by his two sisters who have come to Glasgow hor his wedding to Alys, daughter of Maistre Pierre, the master mason.
While various inhabitants of St Serf's are accusing each other of the murder of the warden, Gilbert will need to visit the Cathedral and the shores of the Clyde to find clues as tp the man's last whereabouts.
When all seems hopeless in identifying the killer, it will come to Alys to produce the answer and solution to this murder, and for Gilbert Cunningham the apprehend the warden's killer.
Highly recommended, for this is another tremendous Scottish mystery to this amazing series, in which Scots is interwoven within this story to make it real authentic, and that's why I like to call this episode: "An Excellent Scottish Mystery"!
September 16, 2015
Continue to enjoy the books in this series; the Scots tickles me; the tendency to accuse vociferously by the townspeople amuses; the growing relationship between Gil and Alys delights - and in this book ends in their marriage without detail. Detail continues to be the unraveling of murder mysteries. All good.
June 10, 2010
ST MUNGO'S ROBIN is the fourth in a series of medieval murder mysteries featuring a Glaswegian lawyer, Gil Cunningham. This was the first I'd read and I picked up the background with ease, so I don't think they need to be read in order to understand them.
Unfortunately I didn't care for this book at all. We start off with twenty pages or so of background exposition - character setting, maybe - and then an intriguing murder takes place. Our protagonist investigates minor details and interrogates suspects but the problem is that this goes on for half of the book's length, without progressing the story in any way. Eventually, a couple of other things happen, but by that time I was too busy wishing the end would come soon.
I appreciate the need for intricate plots in these mysteries, but I felt the one here was aimless and repetitive. There are far too many supporting characters, many of whom are extraneous to the plot. Each and every page is filled with dialogue as everybody seems to talk at length about everything, using Scots dialect which makes it fairly difficult to get to grips with. Our "hero" seems to go around in circles for ages, requiring other men to lead him, and he only eventually solves the murder when something else happens and the killer gives himself away.
I could appreciate the slow pace if we had atmosphere, suspense, intrigue and danger to propel the story, but we never do. In other mysteries, the protagonists usually find themselves in the killer's firing line, but not so here - Cunningham is very much an outsider, always looking in rather than taking part. That destroys any possibility for excitement in the story. Similar, the scene-setting didn't appeal: I didn't get a sense of Glasgow and thought this might have been set in any Scottish city. Only the unwieldy dialogue differentiates this tale from others.
I did enjoy the trial at the book's climax, which builds some much-needed tension, but in every other respect I found it lacking, leaving me frustrated from expecting so much more.
One thing I do like is the cover art on this book - and indeed for the others in the series. I'd display them on my shelves just for that, so kudos to the artist!
Unfortunately I didn't care for this book at all. We start off with twenty pages or so of background exposition - character setting, maybe - and then an intriguing murder takes place. Our protagonist investigates minor details and interrogates suspects but the problem is that this goes on for half of the book's length, without progressing the story in any way. Eventually, a couple of other things happen, but by that time I was too busy wishing the end would come soon.
I appreciate the need for intricate plots in these mysteries, but I felt the one here was aimless and repetitive. There are far too many supporting characters, many of whom are extraneous to the plot. Each and every page is filled with dialogue as everybody seems to talk at length about everything, using Scots dialect which makes it fairly difficult to get to grips with. Our "hero" seems to go around in circles for ages, requiring other men to lead him, and he only eventually solves the murder when something else happens and the killer gives himself away.
I could appreciate the slow pace if we had atmosphere, suspense, intrigue and danger to propel the story, but we never do. In other mysteries, the protagonists usually find themselves in the killer's firing line, but not so here - Cunningham is very much an outsider, always looking in rather than taking part. That destroys any possibility for excitement in the story. Similar, the scene-setting didn't appeal: I didn't get a sense of Glasgow and thought this might have been set in any Scottish city. Only the unwieldy dialogue differentiates this tale from others.
I did enjoy the trial at the book's climax, which builds some much-needed tension, but in every other respect I found it lacking, leaving me frustrated from expecting so much more.
One thing I do like is the cover art on this book - and indeed for the others in the series. I'd display them on my shelves just for that, so kudos to the artist!
December 3, 2012
This is another good Scottish writer of historical mysteries.
I enjoyed it greatly partly because the writer makes no concessions to us English. It's all written in pretty broad Scots, and I really enjoyed working out what some of the words meant.
The period is medieval, the setting Glasgow - a place I've only visited once. As with most books of this type, the characters are pasteboard, but give me enough period colour, a good plot and a place I don't know and I'm happy.
I'll tell you one thing though: my poring on the internet revealed that the life expectancy of the average Scottish king was not too good.
I enjoyed it greatly partly because the writer makes no concessions to us English. It's all written in pretty broad Scots, and I really enjoyed working out what some of the words meant.
The period is medieval, the setting Glasgow - a place I've only visited once. As with most books of this type, the characters are pasteboard, but give me enough period colour, a good plot and a place I don't know and I'm happy.
I'll tell you one thing though: my poring on the internet revealed that the life expectancy of the average Scottish king was not too good.
September 24, 2017
I wasn't quite ready to get my head out of fifteenth-century Scotland after finishing Gemini, so I thought I'd read the fourth of Pat McIntosh's Gil Cunningham mysteries. Set in Glasgow, about ten years after the end of Gemini, these books feel a bit like a extension of the world of the Niccolò series; some of the same historical characters appear in both and I like to imagine Dunnett's characters living their lives just off-screen. (Accidentally or on purpose, there are also a couple of cases where character names and nicknames end up being minor spoilers for points in Dunnett where knowing a character's full name rather than just their nickname would have given too much away, so if you're reading your way through Dunnett and care about remaining unspoilered I'd recommend leaving McIntosh until afterwards; I also enjoy McIntosh more for having read all of the Niccolò books now and understanding the historical background.)
In this book, Gil (now officially charged with investigating murders, after his earlier successes on an amateur basis) is called to a Glasgow almshouse where the unpopular Deacon has been found stabbed with no shortage of people who might have had a motive to kill him. He's also due to be married in a week's time and his investigations are both helped and hindered by family and friends arriving in town for the wedding, while he and his fiancée, Alys, are both suffering from pre-wedding nerves.
I enjoyed this a lot - the series really seems to be hitting its stride by this stage, with the core characters established enough to feel like old friends now; Gil's investigations manage not to feel out of place in the historical setting while still allowing him to do things like estimate times of death from the condition of a corpse. I did spot a couple of clues well ahead of Gil, and had worked out the identity of the murderer by about two-thirds of the way through the book, but then it's always nice to feel cleverer than the detective!
In this book, Gil (now officially charged with investigating murders, after his earlier successes on an amateur basis) is called to a Glasgow almshouse where the unpopular Deacon has been found stabbed with no shortage of people who might have had a motive to kill him. He's also due to be married in a week's time and his investigations are both helped and hindered by family and friends arriving in town for the wedding, while he and his fiancée, Alys, are both suffering from pre-wedding nerves.
I enjoyed this a lot - the series really seems to be hitting its stride by this stage, with the core characters established enough to feel like old friends now; Gil's investigations manage not to feel out of place in the historical setting while still allowing him to do things like estimate times of death from the condition of a corpse. I did spot a couple of clues well ahead of Gil, and had worked out the identity of the murderer by about two-thirds of the way through the book, but then it's always nice to feel cleverer than the detective!
July 20, 2017
Well, if you like to read about people standing in a room talking to each other in a variety of dialects, this book is for you! If, however, you feel mysteries should have a modicum of suspense and intrigue, this book may disappoint. I understand that this is the fourth book in the series, so there is clearly an audience for it. The character development is minimal, although I'm willing to grant that I may be feeling the distance as I haven't read the first three books in the series. Alys seems like a smart woman and a far more interesting human being than Gil Cunningham (the protagonist), yet she is given a ridiculous subplot (which I will not spoil for you here). I was torn in giving this two stars, as the last 20% of the book did seem more interesting both in terms of narrative and character development, but that isn't enough to give it three stars. I love medieval mysteries (e.g. Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma mysteries, Eco's The Name of the Rose), and was looking forward to investing in medieval Glasgow, but I'm afraid this book really didn't give me that glimpse into history.
May 14, 2012
I love these mysteries set in 15th century Glasgow! I get lost at times in the Scots words interspersed in the dialogue, but the daily life I see in the stories fascinate me. This one ends with a rousing Scottish "trial." The interesting thing that McIntosh pulls off is allowing superstition to play a part in the story without having the whole thing collapse into hocus pocus nonsense. Every time I finish a Gil Cunningham novel I miss it for days.
March 17, 2013
I felt some of the old Scots quotations Gil voices to his nearest and dearest are starting to become a detriment to character development. It was also quite easy to solve this riddle from fairly early in the novel.
January 23, 2021
McIntosh's depiction of characters and Medieval Glasgow transport the reader back in time. By the time I finished, I was thinking with a Scot accent!
In this, the 4th of the series, Alys and Gil are planning their wedding. But Gil is called away as he is the notary to the Archbishop to investigate a murder in St. Serf's almshouse, a home for elderly clerics. His friend, and father of Alys, Pierre Mason, is assisting him. Pierre is knowledgeable in determining the time of the death as he had done in previous cases.
It appears that the poor murdered man was murdered elsewhere. But where? And what happened to his cloak and hat? Surely he would not go out without them. And the biggest mystery of all is why? As witnesses are called on, the facts do not seem to add up as to do the deceased.
Family members also add to the drama as families seem to do.
McIntosh answers why young women seek to join the religious establishments, at least in the case of Gil's sister.
In this, the 4th of the series, Alys and Gil are planning their wedding. But Gil is called away as he is the notary to the Archbishop to investigate a murder in St. Serf's almshouse, a home for elderly clerics. His friend, and father of Alys, Pierre Mason, is assisting him. Pierre is knowledgeable in determining the time of the death as he had done in previous cases.
It appears that the poor murdered man was murdered elsewhere. But where? And what happened to his cloak and hat? Surely he would not go out without them. And the biggest mystery of all is why? As witnesses are called on, the facts do not seem to add up as to do the deceased.
Family members also add to the drama as families seem to do.
McIntosh answers why young women seek to join the religious establishments, at least in the case of Gil's sister.
January 27, 2023
Really glad I thought to get back into this series. I'd forgotten a lot of the background info, but that didn't really hinder things too much.
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Lettuce Craft reading prompts 2023: a book featuring time
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Lettuce Craft reading prompts 2023: a book featuring time
March 16, 2017
Great period detail and engaging mystery.
April 11, 2018
I am enjoying this series but would like it a lot more if I understood what was being said. A glossary would be nice...
June 22, 2019
Another amazing read from Pat McIntosh. Good plot line and good character development. However it is the atmospheric setting of the stories that make them so very special.
There is no sure way of knowing how people lived, ,spoke , dressed or interacted in 15c Glasgow, but Pat seems to have created a very acceptable scenario.
I promised myself I would limit my reading if the seies to just one per month to spin out my enjoyment. Failed !!! About to start reading my third this month.
There is no sure way of knowing how people lived, ,spoke , dressed or interacted in 15c Glasgow, but Pat seems to have created a very acceptable scenario.
I promised myself I would limit my reading if the seies to just one per month to spin out my enjoyment. Failed !!! About to start reading my third this month.
May 23, 2021
Another excellent book in the Gil Cunningham series. I loved the old folks in this book particularly.
August 5, 2022
I spotted the culprit early on, but I enjoyed the journey nonetheless.
August 24, 2023
⭐️ 3.5 stars ⭐️
June 23, 2025
This was much better than the previous one in the series. Like most crime thrillers, it is a bit formulaic -- but its is complex enough and historically interesting.
December 30, 2025
I enjoyed solving another mystery with these characters.
March 15, 2010
Fourth entry in the Gil Cunningham historical mystery series set in 1490's Glasgow, Scotland. Gil is a lawyer, now in the employ of the church and thus he is who is the Questore when the Deacon at St. Mungo's is found murdered. There are several suspects, as no one liked him much, and an inspection of the accounts reveals that he was skimming a lot of money and properties. He had only just announced his intention to marry--and not to marry his mistress, who essentially shared his home--which upset a number of people in the household, not least the mistress herself. And other dead bodies follow, which seem to be tied to the first murder but which only complicate things.
On a personal note, Gil and his betrothed Alys are nearing their wedding day, and he is concerned because she grows more distant. He thinks at first that it's just all the preparations for out-of-town family and friends and the celebration itself wearing on her, but fears that she is regretting the decision to marry. Gil must also deal with his somewhat wild and unconventional younger sister, Tib, who was found in flagrante dilecto with her lover--with all the complications that entails in that place and time.
I do enjoy this series, despite usually being able to figure out the mystery well in advance--as I did with this one. I will say again that the only reason I continue to mark these down somewhat is because of the copious use of the vernacular...if it were modern Scots slang used just occasionally, I wouldn't have such a problem with it, but the language of the time was quite different and the author uses it very pervasively. Sometimes you can figure out what's meant, other times not, and it does pull me out of the story momentarily. What might be helpful is a glossary of at least the most frequently used words, which I do find helpful in several other historical series. Still, I love the characterizations, the historical details and that's why I keep reading on in the series.
On a personal note, Gil and his betrothed Alys are nearing their wedding day, and he is concerned because she grows more distant. He thinks at first that it's just all the preparations for out-of-town family and friends and the celebration itself wearing on her, but fears that she is regretting the decision to marry. Gil must also deal with his somewhat wild and unconventional younger sister, Tib, who was found in flagrante dilecto with her lover--with all the complications that entails in that place and time.
I do enjoy this series, despite usually being able to figure out the mystery well in advance--as I did with this one. I will say again that the only reason I continue to mark these down somewhat is because of the copious use of the vernacular...if it were modern Scots slang used just occasionally, I wouldn't have such a problem with it, but the language of the time was quite different and the author uses it very pervasively. Sometimes you can figure out what's meant, other times not, and it does pull me out of the story momentarily. What might be helpful is a glossary of at least the most frequently used words, which I do find helpful in several other historical series. Still, I love the characterizations, the historical details and that's why I keep reading on in the series.
May 4, 2010
Back to the historically fascinating Gil Cunningham series of the first two books! Gil, nearly married to his Alys, has to solve the murder of a very unpleasant Deacon, while dealing with all the relatives who've come to town for the wedding.
McIntosh seems to have hit her stride here - the characters and their relationships have depth, and the historical facts are really interesting - here primarily focused on the legal and social place of mistresses vs. wives. Gil's family continues to expand and interact realistically. Yay, historical mysteries.
McIntosh seems to have hit her stride here - the characters and their relationships have depth, and the historical facts are really interesting - here primarily focused on the legal and social place of mistresses vs. wives. Gil's family continues to expand and interact realistically. Yay, historical mysteries.
December 13, 2016
I am enjoying this series. Not only am I getting a good mystery, but I am getting a lot of good information about the period. There were a lot of characters in this story. It was hard at times for me to keep them straight. I still like all of the main characters. This mystery wasn't hard to figure out. I think you will get some idea of the murderer so it won't be much of a surprise. However, you will really like the ending. Recommend the series. Start with the first one: 'The Harper's Quine'
January 31, 2009
McIntosh writes good historical mysteries in which the historical setting (medieval Scottish university & surroundings) feels quite real, showing the ugly pieces without dwelling on them. Gil seemed a little bit off his game in this one, not putting together a few pieces that were obvious to me (and I don't usually solve mysteries ahead of the detectives!), but he was extremely stressed by his personal life, so I am willing to be forgiving.
September 16, 2010
Fourth Gil Cunningham mystery. As Gil's wedding day approaches, he finds himself beset by all sorts of difficulties, not the least of which is his bride's somewhat mysterious behavior. In the end, it all winds up satisfactorily. (Aug. 2010)
August 29, 2011
Despite the glorious Glaswegian setting and history prevalent in this book, I found it hard to get into. Some of the characters were hardly sympathetic and this was not one of the better stories in the series.
February 18, 2013
The Deacon of the almshouses is found dead inside a locked enclosure and Gil must find out who killed him as well as prepare for his wedding to Alys. The usual good mystery and amusing to see Alys turn into the 15th century equivalent of a Bridezilla.
December 2, 2010
I liked this one quite a lot, the subplot about the sister was good...
September 5, 2009
Lots of twists and turns make this a fun read, but the language is a bit difficult to "ken" understand.
April 20, 2011
A good "period piece" mystery set in 15th century Glasgow,
Read
April 17, 2010St Mungo's Robin: A Gil Cunningham Murder Mystery by Pat McIntosh (2008)
January 17, 2013
Highly entertaining!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews