This was labeled as a “medieval mystery”, and the title harkened back to the first book in the beloved Brother Cadfael series, A MORBID TASTE FOR BONES, so I thought I would pick it up. What I was hoping for was a thoughtfully crafted mystery steeped in the minutiae of medieval life, with some deeper theme illuminating the nature of humanity.

What I got instead was a rehashing, over and over again, of the murder scene — of particular actions — of the same four or five characters having the same conversations. Nothing seemed to progress. I had the distinct impression that the town’s inhabitants were dolls, moving and speaking when the author needed them for a scene but otherwise completely static.

It’s perhaps unfair to compare this to the Brother Cadfael books by Ellis Peters, but Hawkswood invites the comparison by setting the series in the civil war between Stephen and Maud in the 1100s, not to mention the strong resemblance between Hugh Bradecote and Peters’ Hugh Beringar. Where Peters’ Shrewsbury is vibrant and populated, Hawkswood’s Worchester feels as if its streets are empty of life. This is the tenth book in this series — I have not read the others — and yet characters like Roger the Healer, who one would have expected to see in other books, and whose history would logically be known to Catchpoll and Bradecote, tell their life stories on page for the asking.

Overall, I found this book exasperating and dull. A medieval mystery does not have to do the same thing as Peters’ Brother Cadfael or Eco’s THE NAME OF THE ROSE. However, if the attempt is made to copy Peters, the skill in craft is necessary to pull it off. Hawkswood does not have that skill.

(I got around 30% of the way through the book and then read the ending. The ending, to my mind, left unresolved and unexamined a number of social and ethical questions. The quality of the town map in the front matter was bad; I have made better maps for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign.)