1392 London and the dead are walking at night at St Modwen’s Church. Crispin Guest is begged by Father Bulthius to investigate. But Guest receives a summons from former lover Philippa Walcote to help prove that her 7 year old son did not commit the murder is has confessed to.
An enjoyable mystery and easy read.
A NetGalley Book ( )

This mystery was sent to my by the publisher Severn House via NetGalley. Thank you.

The Deepest Grave has medieval finder Crispin Guest involved in two separate mysteries which touch at the end. He is aided and sometimes thwarted by a cast of familiar characters whose stories are expanded in the novel. While his apprentice Jack Tucker is worried about his heavily pregnant wife Isabel, Crispin gets a frantic note from his own former lover Philippa Walcote. Her seven-year-old son is accused of murdering a nasty neighbor and apparently has confessed to the crime. Since seven is the age of reason wherein an individual is judged to know right from wrong, there is a real possibility that the boy could be arrested, tried, found guilty and hanged. In addition, a valuable relic from the victim’s house has gone missing and Christopher is accused of stealing it. One interview with this highly intelligent child and Crispin deduces that he is protecting someone, but who and how to prove it?

Meanwhile, in a poor parish not far from the Walcotes, the parish priest hires Crispin to solve a particularly grisly problem. Recently buried corpses are rising from their graves and dragging their coffins toward a small wooded area. The next morning they have returned to their resting places but with bloodied mouths and shrouds. Crispin is sure it is fantasy or a trick until he sees it with his own eyes.

Crispin manages to solve both cases very satisfactorily. Yet there remains a little mystery…..that disappearing relic which apparently has a will if its own… ( )

The walking dead!

London ,1392. The opening scenes depicting Crispin Guest, the faithful Jack Tucker and his pregnant wife Isobel, had me recalling Crispin's journey thus far. His descent pre 1384 from Lord and Knight to traitor and now a private investigator--The Tracker, hiring himself out to solve mysteries, many of them associated with relics. My reflections turned to Crispin's aloneness, prompted by the lovely scenes of Jack and Isobel's happiness. Despite the three of them living comfortably together under the one roof, there's a poignant reminder when Crispin goes off to his solitary room as 'the soft sounds of Jack helping [Isobel] to bed gave Crispin that pang again; the pang of a thousand regrets.'
I remembered the women Crispin had met and those he let go and I must admit I found myself grieving for his missed opportunities for a committed relationship, sometimes through pride and other times, circumstances.
In the midst of these reminiscents, I follow Crispin and the faithful Jack as they begin investigating a case involving the walking dead in a small graveyard of St Modwen’s Church.
And then of course the coincidences begin. Crispin is called to investigate a murder and the theft of another relic from attendees of the same church.
And who is requesting his attendance? None other than his past love Philippa Walcote and her wealthy mercer husband from Guests's first case, The Veil of Lies.
A lively drama with moments of anguish, intrigue and comic relief, with the Tracker, an upright man of his word, despite appearances, the supportive Jack and a rather wonderful group of people who populate their lives.
Another beautifully nuanced medieval noir mystery from Westerson.
As always I am besotted with Crispin and his travails!

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