A Moorland Hanging

By Michael Jecks

14th Century Devon: Peter Bruther flees his master, Sir William Beauscyr, in a time when to do so could earn him a brutal punishment.

Having presented himself as a tin miner to the king, who gives him the status of a serf, he is safe from the claims of Sir William.

But when Bruther's body is found hanging from a tree, Simon and Sir Baldwin must investigate a cold-blooded murder.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Dec 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781471126482

Michael Jecks

Michael Jecks gave up a career in the computer industry when he began writing the internationally successful Templar series. There are now twenty books starring Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock, with more to follow. The series has been translated into all the major European languages and sells worldwide. The Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association for the year 2004–2005, Michael is a keen supporter of new writing and has helped many new authors through the Debut Dagger Award. He is a founding member of Medieval Murderers, and regularly talks on medieval matters as well as writing.

Reviews for A Moorland Hanging

[drled_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Synopsis: A peon leaves his master to become a tin miner, which makes the peon a free man answerable only to the king. This doesn't sit well and the bailiff is called in to arbitrate. Before much can be done, the peon is strangled and then hanged. Sir Baldwin and Bailiff Simon must determine who the murderer is before a civil war erupts on the moors.Review: This writer is getting better in that there isn't quite as much background and description of the scenes as in precious books. This was also a rather convoluted crime with lots of possible suspects.

[NadiyaSparklesGreen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoying the characters developing

[hangerg_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was drawn to this book becuae it is set in the South West of England, where I live, which is a place not often rendered in fiction. It is also set in Medieval times, which is also quite unusual, even within the genre of historical crime fiction to which this book belongs. More specifically, the plot of the book focuses on the tensions that existed on Dartmoor amongst the different groups of people that lived and worked there. A wealthy landowner has had one of his villeins run away, and claim sanctuary amongst the community of tin miners that work the land under the protection of the King. This man is later found hanged in one of the twisted, stunted woods that locals claim is inhabited by Crockern, the evil spirit of the moors. Already on the scene, handily, to investiagte the claims of the wealthy landowner over his former servant, are the bailiff of Lydford, Simon Puttock, and his friend the ex-knight Templar Sir Baldwin Furnshill. They begin to investigate the crime, uncovering as they do lots of simmering resentments between the two groups that gave plenty of people a motive for murder....This book is the third in a long running series featuring the bailiff and his knight friend, set in the Westcountry, but this is the first one I have read. It was a perfectly pleasent and enjoyable historical crime novel, but with nothing to really mark it out as an outstanding example of the genre. The period detail seems realistic, if not overly detailed, and the setting is well drawn, if not hugely evocative, even for someone that knows the areas being written about. The characters, especially of the two investigators, do not seem well drawn enough to make them memorable - I kept being unsure which of the two of them was doing certain things, as they seemed so interchangeable. The same could be said for the leaders of the two main groups of protagonists. However, it was a reasonably well plotted, enjoyable read with a satisfying conclusion that may interest fans of this genre.