Medieval Mysteries: “The Templar’s Cross” by J. R. Tomlin

I’ve been away from the blog for longer than normal because I’m spending most of my free time editing the sequel to Enoch’s Device. I always keep reading, however, and recently finished The Templar’s Cross: A Medieval Mystery by J. R. Tomlin. Here’s my review.

The Templar’s Cross is an intriguing whodunit set in fifteenth century Scotland. The novel’s Sherlock Holmes is a lordless knight named Sir Law Kintour. When his former liege, the Earl of Douglas, is slain in the Battle of Verneuil, Sir Law finds himself searching for a new lord in the Scottish city of Perth.

Sir Law’s only prospect, Lord Blinsele, wants the knight to find the lord’s missing wife and the lover she ran off with. But when the bodies start piling up and Sir Law becomes a suspect, he needs to find the killer and clear his name before he hangs from the gallows.

The mystery is genuinely good, and eventually involves the titular Templar’s Cross, a relic from the Crusades. But my favorite part was the dialogue, which did a wonderful job portraying the dialect of a medieval Scotsman. (All the “ayes,” “willnae’s” and “dinnae’s” made me smile.) That, along with the author’s attention to historical detail, made me feel like I spent some quality time in fifteenth century Perth. Sir Law is an admirable character, and the protagonist of two more novels in the series. And I look forward to his next mystery.

You can read a preview of the book here.