2006-11-11 The Carpenter's tale

Paul Doherty was born in Middlesbrough and is the consummate professional when it comes to writing historical mystery novels. I for one do not know how he can be so prolific with his offering of books and yet make sure that each of them is well researched. Whether they be 13th, 14th, or fifteenth century they are always true to the period. He also writes about Ancient Egypt and Alexander the Great.

A group of pilgrims have joined together, both for company and also for protection, as the roads and forests are littered with thieves and rogues, only too willing to relieve a traveller of their purse and most probably their lives as well. What adds even more spice to the journey is that several of the pilgrims know their fellow travellers but are not letting the fact become public knowledge.

The pilgrims have agreed that at the end of each day's journey when they stop at an inn or other resting place one of them will entertain the others with a tale. Whether the story is true or not only the storyteller will know.

During their journey to Canterbury the Pilgrims stumble upon an execution. Hangings are a common occurrence in these times, but this one affects the carpenter very badly and leaves him in a dead faint.
That evening, he narrates the tale of a Gloucester hangman whose involvement in the secretive punishment of three witches unleashes a vicious spate of revenge killings. Is this just a tale drawn from the carpenter's fertile mind or is the tale true and he was in some way involved in the punishment of the so called witches?