book log: 77) Bernard Knight -- the Witch Hunter

[julesjones]

77) Bernard Knight -- the Witch Hunter

The eighth in a crime fiction series set in the twelfth century, following the cases of Crowner John, a knight who has been appointed as the first coroner of Devon by Richard the Lionheart. This was the first I'd read, and will be the last even though I have another in the TBR pile, because it was a Did Not Finish for me.

Even though the elements of the story should have been a draw for me, I found it hard to get into, and the lead character hard to like. Things came to a head for me with the scene where it becomes clear that Sir John ignores his wife in favour of not one but multiple mistresses. It may be historically accurate, and the author was at pains to then tell us that John's marriage was a failure but that neither party was at fault, it having been a political marriage that both were forced into by their families -- but that's the problem for me. Having shown us a miserable marriage where John's wife seems to be an unreasonable shrew, Knight then tells us rather than shows us what the problem in the marriage is. I don't find infidelity an appealing characteristic in a lead character unless it's carefully grounded, and while this may have been partly to do with my coming in several books in, it focused my attention on the real problem I had with the book -- too much telling and not enough showing for my tastes, and both in the wrong places. After three chapters, I wanted to know the end of the story, but not enough to read the chapters in between. So not a complete failure, but not a series to add to my reading list.

LibraryThing entry

Comments

[green_knight]

I think I've read one or two of them, but can't remember (library books). I would understand one mistress - given that the marriage might have been arranged between two people who never had anything in common, and taking/becoming mistresses was an accepted way of dealing with the reality of political unions.

Multiple mistresses, on the other hand, sounds less attractive. I'm not saying it can't be made to work - I know a number of poly folk with odd arrangements that work for them perfectly fine - but it would need more than a couple of lines to make it clear that all of the participants were ok with the arrangement, and I can't imagine pulling that off in a Christian scenario.

I just read a very disappointing medieval mystery by Paul Doherty; it felt like a modern plot grafted onto a jumble of medieval clichees and the odd anachronism. Given that review, I'm unlikely to try Knight any time soon.

[julesjones]

The initial introduction to the primary mistress is fine for me -- it's put in a context where it's a reasonable response to the situation (political marriage on one side, lonely young widow on the other). But it then becomes clear that he's the knightish equivalent of a girl in every port, and while the girls in question are all fine with this apart from the wife, it's a male fantasy rather than a poly situation. And that just made it extremely clear to me that the author leans far too much to telling for my taste.

It felt to me as if he was aiming for the same market that Cadfael appealed to -- but he's not hit it accurately as far as I'm concerned.