Book Review: A Trail of Ink by Mel Starr

Back Cover: "I had never seen Master John Wyclif so afflicted. He told me later that it was as onerous to plunder a bachelor scholar's books as to steal another man's wife. I had, at the time, no way to assess the accuracy of that opinion, for I had no wife and few books..."

So begins another delightful and intriguing tale from the life of Hugh de Singleton, surgeon in the medieval village of Bampton, near Oxford, and bailiff of Bampton Castle. Hugh sets his cap at the delightful Kate, who proves equally resourceful in the search for the missing books. Some very determined adversaries are out to stop him, permanently if necessary - but are they motivated by greed, or more personal animosity? Then the corpse of a poor scholar, who had tried to sell one of the books, is found in the river: but he had not simply drowned...

My Review: While the plot and storyline were enjoyable, the style was a little difficult to read. The book is written almost as a diary, and in medieval feeling language. The sentence structures sounded foreign, at times, to the modern ear. The author did an amazing job with the accuracy from the time period, but at the same time, made the story difficult for the modern day reader to get into. Also, it would be better to read the other two books in the series before starting this one. I feel a little at a disadvantage not really knowing what went on with Hugh before this. The story does come to a satisfying conclusion, and I was able to finish it after several days of reading.

My Rating:

My Recommendation: I would recommend this book to lovers of medieval fiction.

(I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of review.)