I picked up this book as a review copy but it has taken me a while to get round to reading it. I don't think I missed much.

Hugh is a surgeon and bailiff working in Oxfordshire. When a visitor to his lord dies overnight, Hugh's preliminary investigations indicate murder. The story revolves around an impoverished noble family and revenge for family who were dealt hard blows in poverty.

The background detail is very good and the glossary very useful but the problem is the story. It's engaging enough but just wraps up too neatly at the end and some clues were not finalised.

An amusing and short distraction but not a book to remember or relish. ( )

Triumphing in the face of adversity, this latest adventure will have you trying to solve the crime right along with Master Hugh. So many suspects, so little time... ( )

Rest Not in Peace was one of the better instalments in the Hugh de Singleton series. There were lots of twists and turns, suspects and motives, and the culprit was not immediately obvious. Sometimes I did get a little confused between the characters, and perhaps a tad lost, trying to remember who was who and what was what, but it was a generally believable and plausible mystery. The next book in the series, which I read after this one, contained what I thought to be a major flaw in the information given to the reader, but I did not spot any such thing here.

Admittedly, Hugh was never the sharpest knife the drawer, and could have followed the lead he did to solve the mystery more quickly, but then there would be no story… Admittedly there were a few loose ends, but then I think all mystery and detective stories have these upon occasion. I found the religious content satisfying as well- although Hugh’s some of Hugh’s actions do not always sit well with his convictions, when there could be other ways of getting the information he needs.

The historical information was, as usual interesting, with the details about surgery- though most of it was focused on food in this one. I really should have made more use of the glossary, but with the PDF version it was not easy to keep flitting back and forth. Good for fans of Medieval and clean mysteries.

I received a PDF version of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley for review. I was not required to write a negative one and all opinions expressed are my own.
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I have been really enjoying this series it transports me back to a far time, long before forensics. Once again the detective must use observation, the ability to read people and an understanding of human nature to solve his murders. There were a few false herrings that led me astray yet in the end the conclusion was very satisfactory. ( )

http://www.girllostinabook.com/2014/12/review-rest-not-in-peace-by-mel-starr.htm... ( )