Allison & Busby first paperback edition - 2024
A short Blog this time. This is the twelfth 'outing' for the author's Lord Hugh Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll, although the subtitle should perhaps now be changed to - A Bradecote and Catchpoll and Walkelin Mystery. Hawkswood appears to be increasingly fond of the young Under Serjeant, and he is more than ever involved in the successful unveiling of this mystery, set in Evesham.
There are few references to the fact that the series is placed in the period we know as 'The Anarchy'. We learn that Reginald Foliot, Abbot of Evesham was close kin to Miles of Gloucester, the late Earl of Hereford, and a nephew, Gilbert, was the ambitious Abbot of Gloucester. The lord Sheriff of Worcester, William de Beauchamp had given support to the Empress Maud after the Battle of Lincoln, and was still in communication with her. It is also mentioned that the infamous Geoffrey de Mandeville had two years earlier taken Ramsay Abbey and expelled its fraternity.
The story centres around the murder of the Abbot of Evesham's steward, Walter. His brother William is immediately appointed his successor, due to the office becoming almost hereditary to their family. Walter's young widow Maerwynn, just sixteen, had clearly had a tough time of an arranged marriage and her father, Wulfram Meduwyhra, is among the suspects. It appears that everyone in Evesham disliked the Steward, who had been overcharging, keeping the 'extra' for himself, and bullying them. Others are Hubert the Mason, Simon his son, and Adam the Welldelver, all of whom were engaged in sinking the new well in which the Steward had been found murdered. There is an old feud between Cuthbert, a 'walker' at a fulling yard (meaning he was the only one willing to trample in urine each day) and Siward Mealtere. His son Oswald, a maltster, is high on the list of suspects. In the background is the feud between the abbey and the castellan of nearby Bengeworth Castle. The latter de Cormolain (with a history of mutual antagonism with Bradecote) and his henchman, Ansculf, have an unsavoury smell about them. There is quite a riveting end to the murderer, involving bees!
My fear is that the series is slightly running 'out of steam' - a similar problem occurred with Susanna Gregory's Matthew Bartholomew stories, which probably should have ended well before its 25th tale. There are only so many times medieval sleuths can retain one's interest, as the storylines tend to become repetitive. Unlike detectives in modern times, they operate on a tiny geographical canvas and their detective tools, inevitably, are few. I also felt that Bradecote and Catchpoll had slightly less detailed attention paid to their characters this time. I expect I shall still buy the thirteenth story, if there is to be one.
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