Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of The Magician's Death by P. C. Doherty. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.
The Magician's Death by P. C. Doherty
A Hugh Corbett Medieval Mystery
St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-56562-3 (0312565623)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-56562-6 (9780312565626)
Publication Date: July 2009
List Price: $24.99
Review: Murder, intrigue, conspiracy … these are the hallmarks of the Hugh Corbett mysteries by P. C. Doherty, and all are on brilliant display in The Magician's Death, the 14th medieval mystery in this series.
A previously unknown literary masterpiece, Secretus Secretorum, the Secret of Secrets, by Roger Bacon, has been discovered in France. Thought to contain all the knowledge of the ancients, it is coveted by both the English and French monarchs but is written in a cryptic language. Hugh Corbett, a confidant of Edward I, arranges for the manuscript to be shipped to England where a group of academics will attempt to decipher it. Sequestered in Corfe Castle along the Devonshire coast, the English and French scholars are soon the targets of an unknown assassin. It isn't clear whether their deaths are associated with other crimes that have been committed at the castle, or involve the manuscript, or are unrelated entirely. Corbett must navigate treacherous waters in determining what is going on and why.
Much of the appeal of The Magician's Death lies in the way the intricate plot develops. Corbett can't be sure (nor can the reader) whether everyone is who they claim to be, and whether the deaths of several young women, and later, three of the French scholars, are connected. And what of the mysterious ships that patrol just offshore? The remote setting, and the blinding winter storm that batters the castle, add to the seductive nature of an obscure entity whose purpose is elusive and uncertain. Set in 1304, his historical mystery, with political overtones that resonate even today, is one of the best of its genre, and is highly recommended.
Special thanks to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing a copy of The Magician's Death for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
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Synopsis (from the publisher): The monk and scholar Roger Bacon claimed to have seen many marvels of nature and science and concealed these in a book written in an unbreakable code. Sir Hugh Corbett has been instructed to organise agents in Paris to steal this Book of Secrets. They do so but pay a violent price and the French King Philip IV now wishes a meeting between the scholars of England and France to discuss breaking the code. Edward I has no choice but to allow the meeting to take place at Corfe Castle, which becomes a place of murder and mayhem. Young women from the castle are being slain whilst horrific things are witnessed in the nearby forest. The situation becomes more serious when two of the French scholars die in sinister circumstances. Corbett and Ranulf-atte-Newgate have to thread this maze of malevolent murder whilst trying to decipher the great secrets of one of England's most outstanding scholars.
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