By Treason We Perish (The Simon Merrivale Mysteries, 1)
October 1338, and Simon Merrivale – once a King’s Messenger – manages to struggle back to England from Europe in disgrace after failure to intrigue pro-English support in Savoy. Heart-broken, physically and mentally worn out, he looks for employment. He has an ailing father to support, all he has left of family. Given a chance to work for the Queen Mother, Isabella, he is determined to rebuild his life. Merrivale is tasked to search for a missing clerk, who should have collected a large consignment of saffron, a valuable spice in England. This leads him into other plots that drive him deeper into a conspiracy that doesn’t only involve corruption in high state, but also a threat to King Edward III.
I’m not fond of the word, but I can say this novel is ‘rollicking’. Merrivale is a great hero; he is flawed, he fails, he is grievously injured, but he struggles on to win. The complex financial and political status of Europe is well sketched, and the reader is never bored. I’d like more.
