Of course, there are two options here, either one of them did do it, or there is a third party. The book spends a long time with two primary suspects and it looks like it’s a question of which one of them dunnit. It’s a good read, and the characters and descriptions bring the village and the icy moor to life, but the set-up was one of the more difficult ones to pull off. Now, I will say this, I was a bit worried while reading the book. The supporting cast – Puttock’s wife, and their servants, for example – are developed, as is Furnshill’s conflicted desire as to whether to find a wife or not, but first and foremost, this is a mystery novel, with a couple of violent murders to take care of. I enjoyed the first book in the series, The Last Templar, which in part sets the scene for the series, but with the regular “sleuths” now in place, the mystery takes centre stage here.

As suspicion oscillates between a number of locals, and a visiting foreign nobleman who had history with Kyteler, Furnshill and Puttock find themselves fighting not just a murderer but the weather itself as snow and ice blanket the moors. In this second book in the series, Agatha Kyteler, midwife, healer and suspected witch has been found violently murdered on the outskirts of the village of Wefford. And to kick the month off, it’s back to the reign of Edward II and Michael Jecks’ long-running series featuring ex-Templar Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock. There will also be a couple of books that I’ve tried to start a few times but never persevered with them. This month, new reviews excepted, I’ll be looking at the many authors who I’ve reviewed one or two books from and, for some reason, never went back to, despite enjoying what I read. And so, after New Author August and Old Author October, we head into another themed month, the slightly painfully named ‘Nother Chance November.

The Merchant's Partner by Michael Jecks