by S.J. Parris
(12/12/2009)
Heresy is a new book in the realm of Medieval whodunits, with something for every mystery reader: spies, cryptic texts and codes, grisly murders and even a little romance.
While at times it moves rather slowly, with a lot of historical detail & debate thrown in, at the last part of the book the action picks up, the story unravels and all is made known. Throughout, the author's writing is very good, although I think she spent more time on plot rather than on her characters.
My understanding is that this is the first of a planned series, and hopefully the author will flesh out the ongoing characters a bit more. However, I liked this book, both for plot and writing. I'd recommend it to people who like CJ Sansom's Tudor era-based books, and to those who like historical mysteries in general, and people interested in the history of religion in England and Europe during the Tudor period.