Rachel Reviews: King Arthur's Bones by The Medieval Murderers

This is book five in the series of books by the Medieval Murderers and if you've not come across them before, you may be curious as to who this group of authorial killers are. They are, of course, a group of historical fiction writers, specialising in murder mysteries. Each author's books are set in a different period of British history and usually comprise some sort of amateur detective who seeks the truth of what has happened. These sleuths can be official, as in representatives of the king or church, or merely curious justice seekers who are keen to uncover the killer.

The writers comprise of: Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Michael Jecks, Philip Gooden and Ian Morson. Out of these, I have read the solo works of Susanna Gregory and Michael Jecks and they are thoroughly good at invoking the period of which they write as well as writing a good murder mystery with fleshed-out characters.

The thread which runs through each of the stories in this book is that of King Arthur's bones, relics discovered in the first story set in 1191 in Glastonbury and travelling through time and various hands to the early 1800s and London after the Napoleonic Wars.

I was not aware of this but there is a myth about Arthur, that he sleeps somewhere, presumably with his knights, and will remain in his slumber until he is needed should Britain be threatened. Obviously, if someone has Arthur's bones, then the king is more than snoozing - he's dead and his myth dies too! However, could the bones be used as many relics are, as a source of hidden power that belies the human and imbues the carriers with the possibility of greater success in battle by having them in their possession? So, you can see where motives for murder would come from in those two examples - keeping the bones hidden and bringing them to the light and conflicting parties wanting the opposite result.

My favourite stories were the last two, although they were all good but Philip Gooden's Nick Revill and his babysitting of Shakespeare's errant brother, Edmund was interesting - saucy and violent with a great nod to The Winter's Tale at the end - whilst Ian Morson's Joe Malinferno was a lively rogue to follow through London with its body snatchers and Egyptology enthusiasts and fear of Napoleon.

Altogether, a great set of historical tales, diverse in their content but equally entertaining.

Rachel Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐