I (usually) love my Hugh de Singleton books. This one was interesting and involved a lot more in terms of social attitudes and domestic issues than some of the other stories in the series. Towards the end I was rather concerned that it was going to be a rehash of an earlier story, Unhallowed Ground. There were similarities, but it wasn’t entirely the same.

I’m not sure I agreed with everything Hugh did and all the decisions he made in this one, but I could understand his motivation if not he justification. One thing I did find interesting was the idea of community justice in Medieval England, and the idea that people in villages might well deal with disputes in their own way, without any recourse to the central legal authorities who were seen as out of touch at best, and openly corrupt at worst.

I hope to continue reading more Hugh de Singleton books, moving forward as I do enjoy the series and I just hope the author doesn’t run out of ideas.

Thanks to Lion Fiction for approving my request for this title. I also pre-ordered the book for myself. (The only thing which didn’t impress me with that was the number of pages stuck together because the book hadn’t been cut and finished properly, but this isn’t’ review of the book’s condition.)
Neither of these influenced my review and all opinions expressed are my own.

This was my first read by this author and it wont be the last. The writing was engaging, the characters were well developed and the storyline was compelling. A really enjoyable read.

I love this series as Hugh is such a great character. There are always lots of details of life and times in this era which is great and the plots are always good although the endings are not always as I would like that is life. All in all a lovely read can't wait for the next I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.