Susanna Gregory
A Killer in Winter (2003)
Author: Susanna Gregory
Genre (and subgenre): Mystery/historical
Plot Summary:
The winter of 1354 is the worst that anyone in medieval Cambridge can remember, and the harsh weather strikes hard at a town already weakened by the recent plague. Physician and research fellow Matthew Bartholomew finds himself dealing with a surfeit of bodies appearing throughout the town – and not all of them have been killed by the cold. Power struggles between the monks within the colleges and the corrupt sheriff in the town have created the need for the killer(s) to be quickly found. Christmas is coming, however, and the scholars in the various colleges are taking advantage of the traditional Twelve Days of Misrule. A further distraction to Bartholomew’s investigations is the recent re-appearance of Philippa Abigny, a former fiancee of Bartholomew, who had run off to London to marry a much wealthier man.
Geographical Setting: Cambridge
Time Period: Christmastide 1354
Series: a Matthew Bartholomew Chronicle (#9)
Appeal Characteristics:
The historical detail in this book is amazing – in some ways reflective of the expertise put into a thriller. Much is included of the lives of the monks and fellows in the medieval college; also a lot of medieval medical knowledge, theological thought, Latin, detail of the historical town of Cambridge. The author has worked as a policewoman and is now working as a research fellow at Cambridge. Well-developed range of secondary characters, including the research fellows and scholars of Bartholomew’s college. Told in third person. Opens with prologue told through Josse, one of the first victims of the book.
Similar Authors:
P.C. Doherty – A Tapestry of Murders, etc.; Michael Jecks (Medieval West County Murders) – more brutal, more emphasis on crime, but similar time period and attention to detail; C.L. Grace – same time period, same Cambridge, another physician…but this time the physician is a woman; Bernard Knight
Red Flags: Because the detective is a physician, some of the details about the victims may be more graphic than usual. (i.e., if descriptions of infection turns your stomach, be wary)
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