Crispin at his best!

Season of Blood: A medieval mystery (A Crispin Guest Medieval Noir Mystery #10) 

by Jeri Westerson

Once again, The Tracker, Crispin Guest is dogged by a mysterious holy relic. This time 'the Holy Blood of Hailes.' A Ciscurcian monk arrives at Crispin's door with a dagger in his back, and a holy relic in his hand! And that's not all, Crispin recognizes the dagger. And so it begins.

Why is it that these mysteries gravitate towards him? At one stage Crispin grimly ponders that, 'Nothing good ever came from association with relics, at least not for him. It was damnable how they kept turning up at his door.'  As does a dead White monk of the Cistercian order just to add spice and intrigue. There seems to be a veritable plague of monks imbedded in this Tracker episode.

And let's not forget the last words of Crispin's friend Abbot Nicholas, ' ‘Forget what you think you know … Beware of what you find …’ ' words that haunt Crispin more than the relics. What will Crispin find and what is he really searching for? This is our ongoing exploration of Crispin, his strengths and failings, his personhood.

Jack Tucker is back, now a betrothed young man whose words of wisdom have occasion to bring Crispin up short. John Rykener appears (one of my favorite characters) and, most unexpectedly, the ex sheriff of London, no friend to Crispin, Simon Wynchecombe turns to the Tracker for help.

On top of this a rather mysterious woman enters Crispin's life and turns it upside down.

Another enthralling read. I continue to enjoy the interplay between Crispin and Jack Tucker. I love their verbal sparring, spiced with references to Aristotle and much grumbling from Jack. As always, Westerson's prose brings the streets of 1390's London vividly to life.

A NetGalley ARC

*****