Mystery in the Minster

By Susanna Gregory

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Dead ends and red herrings are as frustrating as York’s interminable rain in Susanna Gregory’s 17th chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew. It is the year 1358 when the physician, Bartholomew, accompanies a delegation of Cambridge scholars to York to reclaim a legacy from the archbishop. The legacy is contested, and it doesn’t look good for Bartholomew’s group as its executors are coming to untimely ends and in odd circumstances. It is left to the physician with his skills of observation and practical reasoning to solve the puzzle.

But it is not until the very end, after a wonderfully harrowing pair of climaxes, that Bartholomew pulls the puzzle pieces together. As in her previous chronicles, the author blends meticulous historical data into a well-paced, hard to put down story. This one is especially intriguing since every logical choice of culprit pans out until the last moment. A first-rate treat for mystery lovers!