There are so many wonderful books out there hiding on shelves so I invite you to blog about a book on your shelf, one you're reading or one you found at the library and add your post to Learning All the Time Favourite Resource Link Up.
This week ...
- Format: Paperback
- Number of Pages: 256
- Publisher: Monarch Books
- Publication Date: 2008
- ISBN: 1854248855
- Author Melvin R.Starr
I do confess however when I first started reading it I wondered whether I needed to go and get my dictionary. I had not realised just how narrow my field of vocabulary had become with some of the genre's of books I have been reading. It probably would have helped had I not skipped the glossary pages in the front! Upon my travels in cyberspace I discovered that Mel Starr has a full Glossary / Dictationary in the resources part of his site. Think I might just use this with my new tablet while reading the sequel.
If the cover is anything to go by I would never have taken this book off the shelf. A friend of mine had it on her shelf and highly recommended it to me. I am so pleased that I took her up on the offer.
Melvin Starr is an avid student of medieval English and surgery and has written a page turning novel featuring Hugh de Singleton. I was rather surprised to learn that he had his manuscript rejected 60 times before someone took a serious look at it. I am so pleased he persisted. The fifth novel is due for release later this year.
- The Unquiet Bones
- A Corpse at St Andrew's Chapel
- The Trail of Ink
- Unhallowed Ground
- The Tainted Coin
No sense in reinventing the wheel. Here is a snippet of what others are saying about this book:
In the words of Susan Gillmor "Hugh de Singleton is a young surgeon fresh from Oxford University in The Unquiet Bones, a debut historical mystery by Mel Starr. The English countryside is still recovering from the Black Plague in 1363 when Hugh hangs out his shingle in Oxford. Then the discovery of bones in a cesspit at nearby Bampton Castle prompts Lord Gilbert to "search out the assassin." He appoints Hugh to a new and daunting role as his resident surgeon and bailiff."
From Mel Starr - "Hugh of Singleton, fourth son of a minor knight in Wyclif’s England, has been educated as a clerk, usually a prelude to taking holy orders. However, feeling no certain calling despite a lively faith, he turns to the profession of surgeon, training in Paris and then hanging out his sign in Oxford. He was staring from his Oxford window, hoping for clients, when Lord Gilbert was kicked by his groom’s horse. Hugh’s successful treatment of the suffering lord led to an invitation to set up his practice in the village Bampton – and, before long, the request to track the killer of a young woman whose bones have been found in the castle cesspit. She is identified as the impetuous missing daughter of a local blacksmith, and her young man, whom she had provoked very publicly, is in due course arrested and sentenced at the Oxford assizes. From there the tale unfolds, with graphic medical procedures, droll medieval wit, misdirection, ambition, romantic distractions and a consistent underlying Christian compassion."
Else where on the www: The Unquiet Bones:Review, The Unquiet Bones (Historical Novels), Author Spotlight: Mel Starr,
Buy the book: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle, Fishpond, eBook, Koorong.
Blessings
This post is linking to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
I know what you are saying about the cover but your review makes me want to read it.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Ally
Go for it. I finished the three sequels this past week and am looking forward to the fifth novels release later this year.
DeleteLet me know what you think.