Publishers Weekly
Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock investigate a Dartmoor murder in Michael Jecks's The Mad Monk of Gidleigh, the 14th entry in his dependable medieval West Country mystery series. Did an isolated young priest do in the pregnant daughter of the local miller-or could it have been one of her many admirers or even her strangely behaving father? Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
When the miller's pregnant daughter is found murdered, villagers suspect her lover, the local young priest-who promptly disappears. Baldwin Furnshill and Simon Puttock, series investigators (The Devil's Acolyte), find other suspects as well, including the Squire of Gidleigh and a lowly mill hand. A meaty historical for ready appetites. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
The poor old 14th century still hasn't got it right: the citizens of England's West Country are slaughtering each other wholesale under warring flags and on a smaller scale without official sanction. Once again it falls to Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, and his devoted friend Bailiff Simon Puttock (The Devil's Acolyte, 2002, etc.) to see justice done. Mark, a young priest, has been sent from Exeter to preside over the small chapel at Gidleigh, the home of Sir Ralph de Wonson, his undeclared father. Soon enough, Mark falls madly in love with Mary, the miller's beautiful daughter. It boots nothing; before long Mary, now pregnant, is found stabbed to death at the side of the highway. Fleeing, Mark is soon captured and ordered to stand trial for the murder. Nor can he count on his father for help, since Sir Ralph, master of Gidleigh Castle after the death of Sir Richard Prouse, is preoccupied with his son Esmon, a young bully, and his unacknowledged offspring in the miller's family. Left on his own, Mark escapes from prison but not from death as a bloody battle rages at Gidleigh Castle-a trial in whose aftermath Mary's true killer will be revealed. Villains and victims abound, confusion and mayhem reign in an endless chronicle of crossed swords and crossed parental lines. Medievalists may find joy here, others an extended test of forbearance.
