The Knight's Tale

June 1, 2021
Geoffrey Chaucer turns sleuth to solve the murder of the Duke of Clarence. In the middle of the 14th century, the well-educated Chaucer, not yet a renowned poet, earns a comfortable living as Comptroller of the King's Woollens. When Lionel, the Duke of Clarence, suddenly dies, Sir Richard Glanville summons Chaucer to court to assist with the funeral arrangements. Lionel had already received a bit of unearned notoriety as the brother of Edward the Black Prince. Now Chaucer arrives to find a bizarre circle of mourners, including Lionel's viperish widow, Lady Violante; her brother, Giovanni Visconti; and Lionel's new chaplain, Clement, whom no one much likes. It seems also that gold digger Blanche Vickers paid Lionel a visit on the afternoon of his death. Chaucer's dim initial view of this group is confirmed when he visits salty washerwoman Joyce, an old friend brimming with court gossip. When Joyce takes custody of Lionel's beloved wolfhound and gives Ankarette some of Lionel's wine, as he was wont to do, the dog dies. Chaucer's realization that Lionel was poisoned turns the circle of mourners into a rogues' gallery of suspects he investigates with the help of Glanville and Joyce. Trow, whose Kit Marlowe stories have proven his ability to make historic characters feel contemporary and relatable, drops names like Becket, Canterbury, and John of Gaunt as if they were modern celebrities and gives his second-string historic characters vivid personalities. Another murder adds urgency to the investigation. A series kickoff that augurs well for more juicy Chaucer escapades.

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Starred review from July 12, 2021
Poet Geoffrey Chaucer, the hero of this excellent series launch from Trow (the Kit Marlowe mysteries), earns a living as the comptroller of His Grace’s Woollens in London. One morning, Hugh Glanville, the son of an old friend, arrives from Suffolk to tell Chaucer he’s needed to investigate the suspicious death of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, who was once Chaucer’s employer and protector. Three days earlier, Hugh’s father discovered the duke lying dead on his bed, the bed clothes in disarray but no other signs of violence. At Clarence’s castle in Suffolk, Chaucer examines the body and determines that he was poisoned. Clarence, who was married to a gorgeous Italian noblewoman and kept a local girl as a mistress, was sexually active, and murder suspects abound. Trow brings medieval England fully to life through well-chosen period detail, but the novel’s main strength is its portrait of Chaucer, a rather rueful figure, nostalgic for his youth, who, being overweight, worries about falling off his horse. His intelligence, kindness, and insights into human nature serve him well in his efforts to catch a killer. Readers will hope to see a lot more of him in his role as sleuth.

August 1, 2021
Trow's experience as a historian and his passion for the subject are evident in the latest offering from this talented and prolific author. Set in England at the end of the fourteenth century, the story features Geoffrey Chaucer, currently Comptroller of the King's Woollens, already an enthusiastic poet and later to become renowned for his epic The Canterbury Tales. Geoffrey is set to embark on his annual pilgrimage to Canterbury when he receives an urgent summons from his oldest friend, Richard Glanville, who wants Geoffrey to come to Lincolnshire and find out who killed their mentor, Lionel, Duke of Clarence. Once on-site, Geoffrey determines that Lionel was poisoned. There are plenty of potential suspects, but when two more brutal killings take place, Geoffrey knows he must use all of his considerable deductive powers, keen intuition, intelligence, and understanding of how the English upper classes function to find and stop the killer before he strikes again. With twists aplenty, ribald humor, intriguing and varied characters, and vivid descriptions, this suspenseful, playful, and funny mystery will appeal to a broad range of readers.

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