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The Joslin de Lay Mysteries #1
Of Dooms and Death
It is 1369 and England and France are at war. Joslin de Lay is a minstrel like his father. But when English lords visit the French castle in which they live, his father is murdered and Joslin escapes to hostile England, charged with a quest to Wales to find his lost mother. And a mysterious, threatening man follows him secretly.
But no sooner does Joslin land in England than he is embroiled in murder. The great Doom painting is taking shape in Stovenham Church, but each time the face of one of the damned is painted, the person whose portrait it is meets a violent death. ‘The devil walks abroad in Stovenham,” says the travelling friar. There is danger, heartache and cruel murder before the truth is known and Joslin can continue his journey.
There was no doubt. Near where the altar had once been been were legs encased in green hose, a barrel chest in a red doublet and shiny leather jerkin. Whoever it was looked sound asleep.
Fearfully, Joslin crept closer.
Then he caught his breath. He knew who lay there. And he was not asleep.
But no sooner does Joslin land in England than he is embroiled in murder. The great Doom painting is taking shape in Stovenham Church, but each time the face of one of the damned is painted, the person whose portrait it is meets a violent death. ‘The devil walks abroad in Stovenham,” says the travelling friar. There is danger, heartache and cruel murder before the truth is known and Joslin can continue his journey.
There was no doubt. Near where the altar had once been been were legs encased in green hose, a barrel chest in a red doublet and shiny leather jerkin. Whoever it was looked sound asleep.
Fearfully, Joslin crept closer.
Then he caught his breath. He knew who lay there. And he was not asleep.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 18, 1998
1 person is currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Hamley
105 books12 followersDennis Hamley was born in Kent in 1935 and lived in southern England throughout the war. After attending Cambridge University and completing a PHD at Leicester, Dennis went on to teach English and work in Education as a tutor and advisor.
He began writing in the 1970s and quickly showed his versatility. From the supernatural, to football to wartime novels, Dennis’s beautifully simple prose transports the reader effortlessly to the world of his novels. Many of Dennis’s tales center on uncovering the truth and revealing hidden stories. He uses period details and sensitive characterization to bring history and its people to life. He is passionate about providing page-turning reads for a new generation of discriminating readers.
He began writing in the 1970s and quickly showed his versatility. From the supernatural, to football to wartime novels, Dennis’s beautifully simple prose transports the reader effortlessly to the world of his novels. Many of Dennis’s tales center on uncovering the truth and revealing hidden stories. He uses period details and sensitive characterization to bring history and its people to life. He is passionate about providing page-turning reads for a new generation of discriminating readers.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 5, 2016
Un giovane menestrello francese, dopo la morte del padre, finisce in Inghilterra, e precisamente nel Galles, alla ricerca della risposta ai tanti interrogativi sorti dopo l'assassinio del padre. Ambientato nel 1369.
Questa è la piccola perla della mia infanzia, una serie di sei libri che ha tenuto tutti col fiato sospeso per ben due estati di fila in montagna (e me letteralmente convinta di vivere nel medioevo!!!). Non so perchè ma questo libro mi è rimasto impresso nella mente per lungo tempo. E' un libro facile da leggere, scorrevole. Non sapevo nemmeno bene chi era stato a scriverlo. Però non avevo dimenticato la particolarità dell'intreccio, la curiosità che suscita fin dalle prime pagine. Ambientato su un clima medioevale oscuro e lugubre, un protagonista fuori da comune e simpatico al lettore, mi ha lasciato un senso di vuoto e di rabbia. Senza fiato, mi sono immediatamente fiondata ad acquistare il seguito!! Ero davvero intoccabile senza quei libri, una vera belva assassina...
Questa è la piccola perla della mia infanzia, una serie di sei libri che ha tenuto tutti col fiato sospeso per ben due estati di fila in montagna (e me letteralmente convinta di vivere nel medioevo!!!). Non so perchè ma questo libro mi è rimasto impresso nella mente per lungo tempo. E' un libro facile da leggere, scorrevole. Non sapevo nemmeno bene chi era stato a scriverlo. Però non avevo dimenticato la particolarità dell'intreccio, la curiosità che suscita fin dalle prime pagine. Ambientato su un clima medioevale oscuro e lugubre, un protagonista fuori da comune e simpatico al lettore, mi ha lasciato un senso di vuoto e di rabbia. Senza fiato, mi sono immediatamente fiondata ad acquistare il seguito!! Ero davvero intoccabile senza quei libri, una vera belva assassina...
December 18, 2022
Joslin de Lay is a minstrel and the son of minstrel. His father is the court minstrel of count on the Cotentin peninsula. During the visit of an English lord and his knights, his father is attacked and Joslin must flee with his dying father, pursued by the English led by a man with a sallow pock-marked face. They are able to board a ship bound for Ipswich, but before his death, Joslin’s father charged him with going to Wales to find his mother. The ship’s captain is a good man who advises Joslin that he can have a good life if he stays in Ipswich, but he feels obligated to carry out his father’s last wish. Thus, he sets out on his long journey, intending to sing his way to Wales.
The year is 1369, and the country has been devastated by the Black Death and the common people are near rebellion against the nobles. Jos-lin spends his first night in a church in a deserted village—a village that had been devastated by the Black Death. When he enters a nearby town the next morning, people are terrified that he carries the plague. Besides, he is French, always suspicious to the English. A series of murders take place of people connected with the local lord, Sir Roger de Noville. Sir Roger, a veteran of Crécy and Poitiers, views the French Joslin as the obvious suspect.
Joslin escapes from the castle jail with the help of the jailer’s daughter, Gyll, and hides out in a local church where he meets two painters, Robin and Robin’s betrothed, Alys. Their master in London has received a commission from an unknown person to paint a Doom—a painting of the Last Judgment. They are instructed to open a series of sealed letters in the order as instructed by commission. Each order describes a face that should be painted on one of the damned being sent to hell. It turns out that the face described is that of the next murder viction. The last face is that of Joslin himself.
I liked using the conceit of the doom painting and the plot moved along well. The evocation of the times was good and even some of the characterizations are sort of interesting, such Sir Roger. While I enjoyed the book overall, I looked back and thought some things did not make a whole lot of sense. The murderer seemed more of psychopathic serial killer rather than someone who sought revenge for a specific wrong done him—why kill all those people who were only slightly involved and the murder of one of the main characters at the climax seemed completely gratuitous—except it makes possible the next book in the series. Also, the reader is not enlightened as to several aspects of Joslin’s ultimate quest. Does Joslin even know his mother’s name or where in Wales she lives, if indeed she is alive at all. A mysterious stranger—one with a pocked marked face—is shadowing Joslin but he must have some superhuman powers to have been able to do that. 3.5⭐️
The year is 1369, and the country has been devastated by the Black Death and the common people are near rebellion against the nobles. Jos-lin spends his first night in a church in a deserted village—a village that had been devastated by the Black Death. When he enters a nearby town the next morning, people are terrified that he carries the plague. Besides, he is French, always suspicious to the English. A series of murders take place of people connected with the local lord, Sir Roger de Noville. Sir Roger, a veteran of Crécy and Poitiers, views the French Joslin as the obvious suspect.
Joslin escapes from the castle jail with the help of the jailer’s daughter, Gyll, and hides out in a local church where he meets two painters, Robin and Robin’s betrothed, Alys. Their master in London has received a commission from an unknown person to paint a Doom—a painting of the Last Judgment. They are instructed to open a series of sealed letters in the order as instructed by commission. Each order describes a face that should be painted on one of the damned being sent to hell. It turns out that the face described is that of the next murder viction. The last face is that of Joslin himself.
I liked using the conceit of the doom painting and the plot moved along well. The evocation of the times was good and even some of the characterizations are sort of interesting, such Sir Roger. While I enjoyed the book overall, I looked back and thought some things did not make a whole lot of sense. The murderer seemed more of psychopathic serial killer rather than someone who sought revenge for a specific wrong done him—why kill all those people who were only slightly involved and the murder of one of the main characters at the climax seemed completely gratuitous—except it makes possible the next book in the series. Also, the reader is not enlightened as to several aspects of Joslin’s ultimate quest. Does Joslin even know his mother’s name or where in Wales she lives, if indeed she is alive at all. A mysterious stranger—one with a pocked marked face—is shadowing Joslin but he must have some superhuman powers to have been able to do that. 3.5⭐️
January 17, 2019
Reminiscent of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, Of Dooms and Death – the first book in Hamley's series The Long Journey of Joslin de Lay – evokes a mediaeval world of poverty, privilege and intense religious feeling. Like all good historical fiction, it does more than bring a particular historical period to mind; it makes it real, immediate, and even familiar. When the period in question is as distant in time and mindset from our own as the Middle Ages, this is no mean feat.
Joslin de Lay is a young minstrel who, following his father's death, travels from his native France to England. Prior to his death, his father urged him to travel to Wales on a personal quest (the "long journey" of the series title). Joslin's ship, however, docks in Eastern England, leaving him with a long way still to go. Making his way inland, Joslin takes refuge in an abandoned plague village near the small town of Stovenham, which makes him an easy target for the superstitious horror of the townsfolk – that, and the fact that he is a Frenchman, and therefore from a country at war with England.
Unsurprisingly, when a series of murders begin in the town Joslin soon finds himself being cast as the prime suspect. Finding the murderer becomes a matter of urgency, and not simply in order for Joslin to clear his name – he soon realises that he may be the next victim. The tension builds steadily, relentlessly, as Joslin and his allies find themselves pitted against an assassin who "works unseen and invisible... Truly like the serpent at noonday."
Hamley brings his characters to life beautifully, presenting them as people not, in essence, so very different to us, however unfamiliar their society and culture. They speak in modern English – a good stylistic choice, making their speech not just easy to follow for the modern reader but a vital, living language. (As Hamley points out in the Afterword, the characters would have been speaking modern English by their own lights.) There is a parallel with our own time, too: this is a society where people, enervated by war and sickness, are questioning the system and the ties of tradition. "There's two laws in the world," says one character, "God's and the King's... and people are as deserving, whether king or churl."
A fast-paced mediaeval thriller, Of Dooms and Death is both an immensely satisfying read in its own right, and a captivating introduction to the Joslin de Lay series.
Joslin de Lay is a young minstrel who, following his father's death, travels from his native France to England. Prior to his death, his father urged him to travel to Wales on a personal quest (the "long journey" of the series title). Joslin's ship, however, docks in Eastern England, leaving him with a long way still to go. Making his way inland, Joslin takes refuge in an abandoned plague village near the small town of Stovenham, which makes him an easy target for the superstitious horror of the townsfolk – that, and the fact that he is a Frenchman, and therefore from a country at war with England.
Unsurprisingly, when a series of murders begin in the town Joslin soon finds himself being cast as the prime suspect. Finding the murderer becomes a matter of urgency, and not simply in order for Joslin to clear his name – he soon realises that he may be the next victim. The tension builds steadily, relentlessly, as Joslin and his allies find themselves pitted against an assassin who "works unseen and invisible... Truly like the serpent at noonday."
Hamley brings his characters to life beautifully, presenting them as people not, in essence, so very different to us, however unfamiliar their society and culture. They speak in modern English – a good stylistic choice, making their speech not just easy to follow for the modern reader but a vital, living language. (As Hamley points out in the Afterword, the characters would have been speaking modern English by their own lights.) There is a parallel with our own time, too: this is a society where people, enervated by war and sickness, are questioning the system and the ties of tradition. "There's two laws in the world," says one character, "God's and the King's... and people are as deserving, whether king or churl."
A fast-paced mediaeval thriller, Of Dooms and Death is both an immensely satisfying read in its own right, and a captivating introduction to the Joslin de Lay series.
June 20, 2012
Joslin's father, a minstrel, is murdered in France, and his son must escape to England, where he starts a quest to find his mother. In this first book of the series, Joslin reaches England, where he immediately becomes a suspect in a series of murders in a small village. He has to clear his name and save some new friends before he can continue his journey.
I enjoyed this book, and plan to read the next book in the series. I wish the action had been a little tighter in the middle, but the mystery was well-plotted enough to overcome that objection. There are many likable characters in the novel, which is important to me, and one of the reasons I enjoyed it as much as I did.
I enjoyed this book, and plan to read the next book in the series. I wish the action had been a little tighter in the middle, but the mystery was well-plotted enough to overcome that objection. There are many likable characters in the novel, which is important to me, and one of the reasons I enjoyed it as much as I did.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews