A Dreadful Penance (A Stephen Attebrook mystery Book 3)

This book follows Stephen's investigation of a monk's murder in a Clun priory and his adventures from his departure from Ludlow till the crime is solved, under the dark shadow of a possible Welsh invasion. The action is fast-paced and the characters are better developed than in the previous books. Particularly the Stephen-Gilbert couple is more fun and more effective than in other books. There are some gems which underscore Jason Vail's strengths: the careful investigation of the.murdered family on the way to Clun, the taming of the stallion, the details of the fights and of the siege,and some of the descriptions of the landscape. That's where this clever, combat-ready, though flawed, and yet fundamentally good fellow who is Stephen comes alive, and one is intrigued by all the detailed knowledge (which one hopes is genuine) that the author seems to share. More than in the other book, one wonders how things will turn out; suspense is more effectively created. The question of who the murderer is (or the murderers as there are many victims) is less important than in the other books, though the underlying plot is well built. The shocking violence of the Middle Age is presented, but with a light touch and with no gruesome details that I don't like.Language is rich as in the previous books, though typos still abound. Maps of places and of buildings are sorely missing.There are flaws too. Like in previous books, the author has not spent sufficient time editing and improving the book. Sometimes characters are not accounted for. Some sentences are too long and hastily put together. The story has not been polished: Stephen first does its best to provoke FitzAllan, then goes dangerously into Clun - with a very weak reason, and a with surprising submissive Gilbert - gaining nothing except an extra adventure, and then sits calmly at dinner with the monks so that FiztAllan can apprehend him and Gilbert (and they can be in place for the siege adventure). Events are lined up, or at least described, in a way that is not credible. More editing would have avoided it. Some characters are not full explored: Gilbert's enduring love for the cloister is never really explained, Stephen's fatherhood is a topic the author can't seem able to develop,etc.One still hopes in further improvement, while the books are inexpensive, hard to put down and, as noted, some real gems.

It was not the first clash between the English and the Welsh--and it won't be the last--but it's 1272, which is probably as good a year as any to set a novel--the English have a long history of their "clashes" against those upstarts, the Welch, the Scots, the Irish. The colonies. Still, "days of empire" is not what Jason Vail is particularly concerned with in his third novelin this series, "A Dreadful Penance." Lo and behold, a monk has been found murdered in an abbey along the Welch March, just at a time when trouble's a-brewing for another squabble. Sir Geoffrey Randall, coroner of Herefordshire who's in charge, dispatches his trusted deputy Stephen Attebrook to investigate and "to clear things up." Attebrook is a knight not so long returned from nine years of fighting in Spain. Failing to find fame and fortune--and coming home with part of a foot missing from a battle encounter--he finds employment as the deputy coroner. With his trusty assistant Gilbert, he, along with a retinue from the abbey set out to solve the murder. He finds, in addtion, the struggle between the church and the lord of the manor and some highly irregular activities of the abbey's occupants. Things, of course, are not as they seem. The murdered monk has a few secrets of his own, not the least of which there are "entanglements" that are leading directly to another fight between the English and the Welsh. The solution of this murder is actually not the point of the book, but rather the political intrigue, the relationships between some of the characters, and the establishment of a good time period for a setting worth studying. "A Dreadful Penance" is a short book and Vail provides us with two characters not only worth developing but caring about.Of course, the mystery is solved--not an issue--but the interest is in watching Attebrook get there. Vail's Attebrook has potential. Let's see.

Well, I have to say I got to the end of this and I am still having trouble finding out what the dreadful penance was that caused the author to title this book. Still...I like Jason Vail. I am going to cautiously compare him to the peerless Ellis Peters. The reason for this is that I like the simplicity of his narrative, the tidiness of his action and plot, the effectiveness of the mystery. In much the same way I like the departed Ms Peters' Cadfael novels. This is not to say I think Sir Stephen Attebrooke and his trusty sidekick Gilbert Gristwoode should make it onto the small screen played by the inestimable Derek Jacobi. There is also the matter that Mr Vail seriously needs an editor to steer him. In fact I'd go so far as to venture this novel was written before the other two; or at least drafted. It has a "newness" about it that isn't quite as polished as the previous books.The story concerns a trip by Stephen to a run-down priory at Clun on the Welsh border to find out who has murdered the sub-cellarer, William. In addition he's tasked with having Gilbert find out what Prince Llywelyn is up to (something that proves irrelevant given the climatic fires in the novel). En route to the Priory he comes across a bandit raid on innocent travelers and is forced into a confrontation with the bullying lord of the town - Sir Percival FitzAllan. This, in turn, leads him to investigate the characters of Hugh, Oswic, Llwyn, Odo, Brin, and Bran. Suffice it to say he manages to work out the truth without too many vicissitudes, makes a couple of friends and stomps off back home having solved a mystery, found some treasure and watched a town burn to a charred crisp.Back on the theme on an editor....and with regard to the historical and literary aspects. There are a fair few faults. For example, Stephen's sarcastic reference to "Estonia" is far too tenuous. I seriously doubt he would have even known of the place given its subjection to Denmark from 1227; the phrase "stand and deliver" is used which didn't occur till at least the time of Shakespeare (16th century); the phrase "send someone off on a lark" originates in the eighteenth century; use of "smallpox" - a word not used until the fifteenth century; "smart as a whip" - a twentieth century phrase! Then there was the ambiguous "wrath guard" - I still have no idea what Vail is trying to allude to.The list goes on. There is the lack of capitalisation for proper nouns - "prior" and "chapter" being the main culprits and capitalisation where there should be none ("It" instead of "it"). Several typos appear including "unstung" (for "unslung"), "distance" (for "distant"), "force" (for "forced"), "where" (for "were"), A lot more exist and I'm not going to to list them all.These editing mistakes are rather irritating. The former smack of poor research...this stuff is all easily found on the web...the latter of zero proofreading. It doesn't take much to eradicate them and Vail needs to do this.Back to the novel...by the end there has been a change in Stephen's character from the deputy coroner from the first two novels. He's a harder man, more prone to action than musing...and that's not a bad shift. As he reflects: "You can't solve murders by sitting in the grass."Indeed.Despite the lack of editing....as the great Charles Dickens had Oliver say: "I'd like some more."

Although not quite a page turner, I nevertheless found myself finishing this before I even realised I had got near the end. One could argue that the story was not paced very well, with the lead up let down by a rushed finish. One could also argue that it lacks the strong plots of earlier Attebrook novels. Yes, the ending was an anticlimax but this author's works are getting mildly addictive. Take out the annoying Americanisms (valor, fort etc) and deal with the pace and this would be a 5* book. As it is, a generous 4* is in order purely because I wanted to read it all and have purchased the next already. He's doing something right!

We find Stephen Attebrook in another riveting story but this time in Wales. It has what we've come to expect, a well written story and adventure! Can't wait to read the next instalment!

There's nothing to dislike about this authour's stories and style of writing. Crisp, clear writing and a plot that moves at a good pace. No superfluous purple prose, just simple, straight forward story telling at it's best. The characters are believable, quirky and 'real' for the reader. The times in which the story is set is well researched and not portrayed as 'Merrie Old England' that some fantasy writers are prone to do.Time were hard, life was short, survival was everything, and this comes through in the storyline. Look forward to reading more of this series of tales.

I've heard of poetic licence but this story road a card and several horses through it. Still it takes bottle to write this bad.