The Sticklepath Strangler (The Medieval West Country Series #12) Book

Although one of the later books in the series, this is the first of Jecks's medieval murder mysteries that I've encountered, and I'm certainly taken with his style of writing in these books. Jecks write sparse, clean prose, often descriptive but with no particular flourish or manner in his writing; the facts are given in descriptive passages or dialogue, and that is all. There is no apparent art in his writing.

But nevertheless he tells a good, plot-heavy story; he succeeds in creating a diverse cast of mostly unlikable characters (including the two leads, Simon and Baldwin, who unfortunately are never sympathetic, not even for a moment, one of the novel's biggest flaws).

The places, events and descriptions of everyday life in the 14th century are thoroughly researched and seem very authentic and I very much enjoyed all aspects of the mystery, from its initial slow start, through to a mob of angry villagers and the final shocking twist. One complaint with the story is that it reads very slowly, and after an initial exciting (and quite brilliant) opening scene, there's no more action until 2/3s through the story. Still, it makes for interesting, engrossing reading, and pretty horrific all the way through.