Martin Jensen

3.5 stars. I might have given this 4 stars if I hadn't been annoyed by a glaring historical inaccuracy in the very beginning -- Winston, the illuminator of manuscripts, was using a graphite pencil. While graphite was discovered (in the early 1500s) much earlier than I had expected when I looked into this, it was still much later than the setting of this novel in 1018. This was the only such inaccuracy that I noticed so it is too bad that it happened so early and tinged my opinion of the book.

This Danish mystery is set in England a few years after King Cnut (Canute was the way I would have spelled it) began ruling. I found this early medieval setting, when Angles, Jutes, Saxons, and Danes (Vikings) were first coming together into a unified country very interesting. While I had heard of King Canute before, I hadn't really realized that there was a time when England (and apparently Ireland too?) was under the rule of the Danes. One thing I would have liked that was missing was an appendix with definitions of some of the historical terms (such as housecarls, Witenagemot, etc.). Most of the meanings became clear from the context but it would have been a nice addition to the book.

I liked the use of the Saxon Winston coupled with Halfdan, a young dispossessed nobleman -- whose mother was Danish and father Saxon -- as main characters. Not only do the two provide a way to see different ethnicities but Winston had a background in the religious life (monasteries and abbeys) while Halfdan knew more about the "wild" side of life from his days of living hand-to-mouth. The murder investigation by these two was fine with the caveat that this was not a mystery that the reader could solve before the 'detectives'. I will be reading more from this series.… (mehr)

3.5★ The second book in the Danish historical fiction mystery series by Martin Jensen. It feels a bit strange to read a translated book set in England but this series is set in the time of King Cnut (Canute) when England was ruled by a Dane. The tensions between the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings are even more evident in this second book of the series. While that part of the story was interesting, I found the dispute between the two monasteries even more fascinating. I look forward to reading more of this series.… (mehr)

This third book in the King's Hounds series was not quite as good as the previous two. I continue to like the setting in King Cnut's England but missed the glossary that the first book had -- there were some unfamiliar terms. The mystery was well done & while reasonable, it wasn't predictable. So why did I feel slightly let down? I think that it was the relationship between the narrator, Halfdan, and his employer & partner in detection Winston. Winston's woman Alfrida played a much bigger role in this one & Winston was much more in the background -- that didn't work as well as the previous partnership in my opinion.… (mehr)