Amy B. (BaileysBooks) reviewed on 3/24/2013 + 491 more book reviews

This is the Third Chronicle of Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon.

Here is my assessment of the series so far:
The mystery in the first book was incredibly simple and lacked any real depth.
The mystery in the second book was ridiculously complicated, as if it was trying to makeup for the shortcomings of its predecessor.
The mystery in the third book finally struck a good balance between the previous two. However, the overall result was still a plot that ran a little flat.

This book still contains those various odds and ends that make the story seem more artificial than authentic. Starr's continual use of period terms (refer to the glossary in the front of the book for examples) often seem to fall awkwardly in a sentence (ex: "His nose was straight buy mine tends to drift towards the dexter side.") And there were many other times when I wished that Starr would just invest in a thesaurus, as nearly every reference to Kate described her as a "comely lass." Starr is obviously an expert in his field from a historical sense, but that doesn't mean that his knowledge translates well into historical fiction.

In all, I would say that this series is improving. The book is not bad, but it by no means stellar. "Quaint" is a word that comes to mind. The mystery is average, the plot was moderately compelling, and I really have very little idea at all what the characters actually look like (but can tell you in great detail everything that they ate at every remove). Starr is gradually finding his footing as a author. He just has a long way to go before he can truly compete with the heavier hitters in the historical fiction genre.

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