An Ancient Evil

Paul Doherty is the consummate professional when it comes to writing historical mystery novels. I for one do not know how he can be so prolific with his offering of books and yet make sure that each of them is well researched. Whether they be 13th, 14th, or fifteenth century they are always true to the period. He also writes about Ancient Egypt and the Greek period in history of Alexander the Great. This is the first book in the series of mysteries called the Canterbury Tales. It is The Knight's Tale of Mystery and Murder As He Goes on Pilgrimage from London to Canterbury. A group of pilgrims have joined together, both for company and also for protection as the roads and forests are littered with thieves and rogues, only too willing to relieve a traveller of their purse and most probably their lives as well. What adds even more spice to the journey is that several of the pilgrims know their fellow travellers but are not letting the fact become public knowledge. The pilgrims have agreed that at the end of each day's journey when they stop at an inn or other resting place one of them will entertain the others with a tale. Whether the story is true or not only the storyteller will know . The Knight begins his tale with the destruction of a sinister cult in the reign of William the Conqueror, and then moves on 200 years to a series of terrible murders that seem connected to the legends of the cult. True, or false?

This is probably one of the bloodiest medieval tales that I've ever read, but it is extremely well-written. In it we meet a brave knight and his clerk as they try to rid the town of Oxford of a huge evil. We also meet dark lords, satanic priests and members of the living dead. The valour of the knight and the constancy of the clerk are very convincingly portrayed, but so is this rampant evil. The background behind the tale is also interesting. We are all aware of Chaucer's pilgrims to Canterbury and the tales that Chaucer had each of them tell. This book is the first in a series of tales told by these same pilgrims, but the difference is that these are tales of mystery, murder and evil. P.C. Doherty brings medieval England to life, and the book is a page-turner from start to finish.

If you're anything like me, you hated reading the Canterbury Tales at school. OK, Chaucer is a literary genius of classical verse, and his work has undoubtedly had an enlightening effect on post Dark Age literature, but weren't 'The Tales' just really boring confessions of a medieval window cleaner? Reader, I must apologize to Chaucer - his pervasive influence is clear in Paul Doherty's series of Pilgrim's Tales. This first episode - The Knight's Tale, is a morbid and suspenseful adventure - and it's simply one of the best books ever written. Michael Crichton, learn from the best! And Mr. Spielberg, when you're ready to make the movie... give me a call!

This is the first book in Mr. Doherty's Canterbury Tales type stories. The Knight tells a tale of vampires and strigoi(shapechangers) set in the city of Oxford, England. Students come up missing, towns people are found dead with their throats ripped open and the King sends out his Knight Sir Godfrey and his clerk Alexander McBain to ferret out the evil doers. Sir Godfrey comes up against an ancient evil that had supposedly been taken care of two hundred years earlier.This novel is full of enough medieval history, blood sucking monsters and mystery to keep the most ardent reader of historical mysteries engrossed.