2008-09-20 Diverting but doesn't cut the mustard

I have not read any other works by the author so for me this is the first time I've met the character. The cover caught my attention, and as I enjoy detective novels and historical fiction, this looked the book for me.

The basic storyline is that our central character, a lawyer, is ordered to assist with some legal proceedings which take place during Henry VIII's progress to the north or more particularly York. The place in time is just after the great Northern Rebellion and during his marriage to the young and flakey Katherine Howard. The lawyer accidentally discovers some documents in a box, which as they implicate the legitimacy of the King's right to be king are highly contentious, as a result of the discovery there are attempts on his life. The detective component is his un-covering of not only the meaning and importance of the documents ,of which he only read a small part, but also who is behind the attempts on his life.

As a historical novel I felt there was not enough development of the themes behind the rebellion or the motives of Henry VIII and that means the surrounding characters are a little wooden, and, therefore not totally convincing. This area of our past is somewhat difficult to comprehend as those days of religious fervor are somewhat remote and complex. The major themes are brushed over and the daily grime and grot of Tudor England was also not conveyed so it didn't make me feel what it was like to be alive then. There were some fascinating insights into how the progress worked on a day to day basis trundling slowly like a giant greedy insect through England eating and devouring as it went on its merry way. As a detective/thriller it doesn't work that well as there is simply not enough action. The incidents as they occur are very few and far between with the filler being the descriptions of the progress, the surrounding characters and fat, bloated Henry hovering, menacingly somewhere in the background. I kept on faithfully reading each day waiting for the big crime but it never came. And most disappointingly half way through it became obvious to me who the culprit was and I kept on wanting to shout out its them, its them.

I did however faithfully read through right to the end as to be fair to the author I was interested enough to want to read how all the loose ends were tied together. The last 20 pages where its all explained are more captivating but ultimately I was not grabbed by the characters or story.