The Treason of the Ghosts

This is the twelfth book in the series of medieval mysteries featuring Sir Hugh Corbett. Obviously this is one of Paul Doherty's earlier offerings and he has since written many more books and is now an established author of medieval novels and has also added a number of novels on Egypt to his ever growing list of titles. Having said that it is one of his earlier offerings does not mean that it is inferior to his current books, quite the opposite. The Hugh Corbett mysteries were and are extremely popular and Paul Doherty is still adding to them. In the village of Melford one of the local lord's has been executed. It appears his crime was a spate of viscious and sadistic murders. But when the killings continue it seems entirely plausible that the wrong man has been hanged for the crimes and the dead Lord's son, not surprisingly claims that a terrible miscarriage of justice has occurred. The son's claims have to be taken seriously and a serious investigation into the crimes is undertaken by Hugh Corbett. It is not long before Corbett realises that a serial killer has been terrorising the villagers for the last five years. It is only a matter of time before another victim is chosen and when they are Corbett must be ready to act.

We know that serial killers have been around for a long time and in this book we are introduced to a particularly vicious one. Hugh Corbett and Ranulf and Chanson are sent to a prosperous village to deterime why so many women are getting killed. A man had been hanged for these vicious crimes five years ago, and now the killings were happening again. And to further complicate things, important citizens in the village are also being brutally murdered. (This is after all a Paul Doherty book, so there are lots of killings). Doherty is a great author, and this book is a page-turner.