Book Review: A Trail of Ink (LitFuse Blog Tour)

A Trail of Ink by Mel Starr

A LitFuse Blog Tour! (check out the other blogs on the tour!)

About A Trail of Ink:

An excellent medieval whodunit by the author of The Unquiet Bones and A Corpse at St Andrew's Chapel.

Some valuable books have been stolen from Master John Wyclif, the well known scholar and Bible translator. He calls upon his friend and former pupil, Hugh de Singleton, to investigate. Hugh's investigation leads him to Oxford where he again encounters Kate, the only woman who has tempted him to leave bachelor life behind, but Kate has another serious suitor. As Hugh's pursuit of Kate becomes more successful, mysterious accidents begin to occur. Are these accidents tied to the missing books, or to his pursuit of Kate?

One of the stolen books turns up alongside the drowned body of a poor Oxford scholar. Another accident? Hugh certainly doesn t think so, but it will take all of his surgeon s skills to prove.

So begins another delightful and intriguing tale from the life of Hugh de Singleton, surgeon in the medieval village of Bampton. Masterfully researched by medieval scholar Mel Starr, the setting of the novel can be visited and recognized in modern-day England. Enjoy more of Hugh s dry wit, romantic interests, evolving faith, and dogged determination as he pursues his third case as bailiff of Bampton.

Sounds exciting, doesn't it!? You get a general idea that this book is going to be full of twists and turns. I've not read Mel Starr's other books but I'm thinking they will deserve a looking into. 

I liked the pace of the book. It starts out slow, with a bit of foundation work to get us acquainted, I'm sure, with the characters. But not too long. By chapter two, I felt the pace picking up a bit. By the end of chapter two, I was hooked. 

The wording of this books caught me off guard, to be honest. At the start of the book is a glossary for those who aren't privy to words such as 'braes' or 'kirtle'. I love history but I'll admit I didn't really pay attention to my vocabulary in class.

A little bit about Mel Starr:

Mel Starr was born and grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating with a MA in history from Western Michigan University in 1970, he taught history in Michigan public schools for thirty-nine years, thirty-five of those in Portage, MI, where he retired in 2003 as chairman of the social studies department of Portage Northern High School. Mel and his wife, Susan, have two daughters and seven grandchildren.

**Disclaimer: I received a copy of A Trail of Ink by Mel Starr from The LitFuse Blog Tour in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own and were not required to be positive.**