Review of Dispensation of Death by Michael Jecks

Dispensation of Death
by Michael Jecks (Headline, 2007)

I will admit that when I first picked up the book I wasn’t expecting much from it at all. This is mainly due to the fact that I am used to epic historicals, for instance Sharon Penman’s novels. I am not used to reading historical crime fiction at all and found the style very different.

The plot is interesting enough. Set in 1325 at Edward II’s court, two men - Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his friend Simon Puttock a bailiff - are called upon by the king to solve the murder of the queen’s lady-in-waiting as well as a stranger in the great hall. Of course, it isn’t as simple as all that and soon the two men are involved in the machiavellian conspiracies of the court - which of course means that they cross swords (metaphorically speaking) more than once with Hugh Despenser (the younger) who seems to be at the heart of all the murders. But getting on the wrong side of Despenser proves to be a dangerous thing and the two medieval detectives need to watch their backs as much as look for clues to the killings.

It is a good enough read and the sort of book that is perfect for picking up after a hard day. However, I did have a few (relatively minor) criticisms: for a start the book is very plot-based rather than character-based. If this is how you like your novels, then fine, but I would personally prefer a deeper delve into how the characters tick. Because of this they tend to be a little two-dimensional and archetypal at times. For example, sir Hugh comes across as the moustache-twirling villain and Sir Baldwin is the almost annoyingly perfect knight whose integrity gets a rather boring after a while.

I also noticed a few typos but that is more the fault of the book’s editor than the author. The last criticism concerns the ending - and this may be down to me being thick when it comes to crime novels - but I found it too twisted to keep up with until the final chapter or so. And yet there were points earlier in the book when the two detectives seemed to be very slow in coming to any conclusions from the evidence. I was yelling: ‘Well I saw that one coming a few pages back - why didn’t you?!’

Oh yes, also - as Alianore pointed out to me in a conversation we were having the other day - at that point in time the earl of Kent (who features heavily in the book) wasn’t actually in the country! A bit of historical inaccuracy then - one of my bugbears of course - but it could have been much, much worse.

On the plus side - despite being a moustache-twirling villain, Hugh actually managed to come over as quite strong and sexy - a definite plus! Edward, too, comes out of it quite well - seeming masculine, in charge of things and definitely clever - a nice change from being camp and whiny as he seems to be in a lot of other novels. Isabella is not depicted as wholly innocent in the affair either, although there are times when Jecks does revert to the ‘Isabella as victim archetype’.

But despite all those points, I did enjoy the book (and I am not that easy to please, after having been force-fed literature through 4 years of degrees!). It’s a nice easy read with a good plot and overall a good pace.

Lady D Rating 