River of Sins by Sarah Hawkswood

River of Sins (Bradecote & Catchpoll)

by Sarah Hawkswood

The brutal murder of a woman with a past is a thorny investigation for Bradecote and Catchpoll

July, 1144. The body of a woman is found butchered on an island a few miles upriver from Worcester - how did she get there, who killed her, and why? Uncovering the details of Ricolde's life and her past reveal a woman with hidden depths and hidden miseries which are fundamental to the answers, but time has cast a thick veil over the killer's identity.

The lord sheriff 's men have a trail that went cold over two decades ago, and evidence that contradicts itself. Undersheriff Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll will need all their wits to solve this mystery.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

5 of 5 stars

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Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

River of Sins is the 7th book in Sarah Hawkswood's medieval Bradecote & Catchpoll mystery series. Released 19th Nov 2020 by Allison & Busby, it's 352 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is an intricately crafted and well engineered mystery wrapped around a meticulous and accurate historical framework. The characters are well established with realistic and believable internal motivations and agendas. The author is gifted at providing the necessary information without spoon-feeding readers (or drowning them with floods of unnecessary back story). The pacing is well measured and the whole is an engaging and delightful read. I was unfamiliar with the characters and hadn't read any of the previous books (an oversight I will be remedying immediately). I never felt lost or confused; it works very well as a standalone mystery.

Despite the horrific nature of the prologue murder (a near-beheading with an axe), there are no really violent or graphic descriptions. The language is fairly clean (PG rated for some medieval double entendre) and the prose is well written.

I would heartily recommend this one to readers of the historical murder mystery genre, especially fans of Sharon Kay Penman, Ellis Peters, Candace Robb, and Susanna Gregory (and similar). Fans of well written character driven mystery from any period will find much to enjoy here.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 17 January, 2021: Finished reading
  • 17 January, 2021: Reviewed