The Hangman's Hymn: The Carpenter's Tale of Mystery and Murder as He Goes on a Pilgrimage from London to Canterbury

All set in a beautifully depicted medieval England. This book's action takes place in and around the town of Gloucester. This is the fifth in the Canterbury Tales mystery series. It is the story told by the carpenter, and as we hear the story we realize that the carpenter pilgrim is the carpenter of the story. Simon Cotterill takes on the job of Hangman's assistant for a short time in Gloucester, and he finds himself caught up in in an uneartly fight for his life. Simon realizes how much his life is in danger as he sees his fellow hangmen being brutally murdered one by one, so he determines that he must find each member of this unearthly witches' coven and kill them all. It is a dark tale of the black arts told only as P.C. Doherty can tell a medieval tale. That means attention to detail and historical facts woven throughout the story. Good stuff!

Along the road to Canterbury a small band of pilgrims witness a hanging. At the sight of it one of the pilgrims, a grey haired carpenter, feints dead away. Later, when he is revived, he tells his chilling tale. It is fourteenth century England and young Simon Catterill, unemployed carpenter, takes on a job in the Goucester hangman's crew. It is not the job of his dreams and it only gets worse when the crew is assigned the task of hanging three witches. From the moment the three hags are strung up all hell breaks loose. This supernatural thriller is dark and mysterious with many twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. Paul Doherty has written a real page turner with an unexpected ending. This is the kind of book all those great Hollywood producers should be reading. What a great movie this would make!