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William Dougal #1
Caroline Minuscule
The first book in Andrew Taylor's acclaimed William Dougal crime series - from the Richard & Judy bestselling author of The American Boy.
William Dougal, a post-graduate expert in the medieval script of Caroline Minuscule, stumbles on the garroted corpse of his tutor - and finds himself embroiled in a hunt for a cache of diamonds, a deadly fairy story in which no one obeys the rules, least of all Dougal's girlfriend Amanda. As the body count rises, the couple pursue both the diamonds and their doom from London, to an East Anglian cathedral close, from Cambridge to a wintry Suffolk estuary.
William Dougal, a post-graduate expert in the medieval script of Caroline Minuscule, stumbles on the garroted corpse of his tutor - and finds himself embroiled in a hunt for a cache of diamonds, a deadly fairy story in which no one obeys the rules, least of all Dougal's girlfriend Amanda. As the body count rises, the couple pursue both the diamonds and their doom from London, to an East Anglian cathedral close, from Cambridge to a wintry Suffolk estuary.
234 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1982
54 people are currently reading
215 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Taylor
61 books731 followersAndrew Taylor (b. 1951) is a British author of mysteries. Born in East Anglia, he attended university at Cambridge before getting an MA in library sciences from University College London. His first novel, Caroline Miniscule (1982), a modern-day treasure hunt starring history student William Dougal, began an eight-book series and won Taylor wide critical acclaim. He has written several other thriller series, most notably the eight Lydmouthbooks, which begin with An Air That Kills (1994).
His other novels include The Office of the Dead (2000) and The American Boy (2003), both of which won the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, making Taylor the only author to receive the prize twice. His Roth trilogy, which has been published in omnibus form as Requiem for an Angel (2002), was adapted by the UK’s ITV for its television show Fallen Angel. Taylor’s most recent novel is the historical thriller The Scent of Death (2013).
His other novels include The Office of the Dead (2000) and The American Boy (2003), both of which won the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, making Taylor the only author to receive the prize twice. His Roth trilogy, which has been published in omnibus form as Requiem for an Angel (2002), was adapted by the UK’s ITV for its television show Fallen Angel. Taylor’s most recent novel is the historical thriller The Scent of Death (2013).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
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January 14, 2020A first novel, which had its high points but didn't quite work for me. But apparently, Taylor got much, much better. I'll read more.
October 6, 2024
This is a bit of a curiosity, having read several of Mt Taylor's other series I bought this book because it was only 99p, but was (frankly) put off by the title - don't be. It's not clear when this is supposed to be set, I initially thought the 1950s but I suspect it was contemporary when it was written in the 1980s - doesn't' that make me feel old!
William Douglas is a mature(ish) student who chose the rather obscure Caroline Miniscule medieval script for his post-graduate studies (mainly because of its obscurity which would make any research easier to pass off as new). He is lackadaisically preparing to provide a translation of a piece of said Caroline Miniscule from a photo provided by his tutor when he finds the tutor's body garotted in his study. Rather than call the Police, William basically runs away.
Later William is accosted by a man called James Hansard, who he suspects is his tutor's murderer, apparently his tutor was to have translated the text in the photograph for this man and he offers William an eye-wateringly large sum of money to translate the script instead.
But then William reads that James has been killed and later receives a letter and a parcel from James' bank. The letter explains that James was searching for a cache of diamonds, hidden by a client, but the client has shared clues with James and another man, James suspects this man will kill him and has asked William, if that happens, to find the diamonds in his place.
The ensuing search involves a road trip from London to East Anglia and the fens. There's murder, double-crosses, and more.
Loved it, loved the ambiguous ending and I've already bought the second book in the series.
William Douglas is a mature(ish) student who chose the rather obscure Caroline Miniscule medieval script for his post-graduate studies (mainly because of its obscurity which would make any research easier to pass off as new). He is lackadaisically preparing to provide a translation of a piece of said Caroline Miniscule from a photo provided by his tutor when he finds the tutor's body garotted in his study. Rather than call the Police, William basically runs away.
Later William is accosted by a man called James Hansard, who he suspects is his tutor's murderer, apparently his tutor was to have translated the text in the photograph for this man and he offers William an eye-wateringly large sum of money to translate the script instead.
But then William reads that James has been killed and later receives a letter and a parcel from James' bank. The letter explains that James was searching for a cache of diamonds, hidden by a client, but the client has shared clues with James and another man, James suspects this man will kill him and has asked William, if that happens, to find the diamonds in his place.
The ensuing search involves a road trip from London to East Anglia and the fens. There's murder, double-crosses, and more.
Loved it, loved the ambiguous ending and I've already bought the second book in the series.
October 10, 2021
I think that I picked up on this one from an article in the CRA newsletter.
It looked interesting but, for me, it didnt deliver, despite the glowing references from other authors. The quote "In William Dougal, Andrew Taylor has created one of the most attractive amateur detectives in fiction." made me wonder if I had read the same book.
The book didnt seem to know which category it wanted to belong in and so, missed them all.
I didnt have any feeling for any of the main characters. Even the 'bad guys' seemed to be almost a caricature of themselves and I wasnt bothered one way or the other about their fate.
I am a great one for codes and puzzles in stories and there seemed to be great scope here but it felt as if the author couldnt be bothered to set it up as a puzzle that the reader could fully share. Even the 'find' seemed accidental.
Because of my lack of empathy for Dougal, I saw the inevitable ending as just deserts.
It looked interesting but, for me, it didnt deliver, despite the glowing references from other authors. The quote "In William Dougal, Andrew Taylor has created one of the most attractive amateur detectives in fiction." made me wonder if I had read the same book.
The book didnt seem to know which category it wanted to belong in and so, missed them all.
I didnt have any feeling for any of the main characters. Even the 'bad guys' seemed to be almost a caricature of themselves and I wasnt bothered one way or the other about their fate.
I am a great one for codes and puzzles in stories and there seemed to be great scope here but it felt as if the author couldnt be bothered to set it up as a puzzle that the reader could fully share. Even the 'find' seemed accidental.
Because of my lack of empathy for Dougal, I saw the inevitable ending as just deserts.
April 14, 2025
Since I've studied Caroline (Carolingian) Minuscule at Cambridge, I thought I'd list the inaccuracies/oddities I could find as a fun little exercise:
1. William Dougal is a postgraduate in the History faculty. However, the teaching of medieval palaeography, and Caroline Minuscule in particular, is undertaken by the Department of Anglo-Saxon Norse and Celtic (ASNAC). This is particularly egregious as the novel is presumably set in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and T.A.M. Bishop, who wrote books on (Insular) Caroline Minuscule which are authoritative to this day, was teaching at the faculty until 1973, so ASNAC was pretty established in medieval palaeography by that time.
2. The History department would not be physically located in the same building as Dougal's college. Said department (alongside most Humanities departments) has been in the Sidgwick Site since the 1950s. No academic department in Cambridge is located within a college.
(Incidentally, characters' insistence on referring to their college as 'the college' instead of just naming it is extremely odd.)
3. The 'Graduate Common Room' would be the 'Middle Common Room'.
3a. Phillip Primrose appears to be teaching faculty of some sort. If that were the case, he would have been in the Senior Common Room and not the Middle.
4. Relatively minor, but Dougal's thesis is on 'The Influence of the Carolingian court on the transmission of pagan Latin literary texts in the early Middle Ages' (p.17), which sounds obscure and complicated, but was actually relatively well-researched (even in 1982), because it was literally just Virgil and other 'classical' texts.
5. Hanbury wants single 'page' of a medieval manuscript transcribed, translated, and 'have assessed its date and provenance and so forth' (p.21-2). Dougal considers it 'a couple days' work' (p.23). The modern Cambridge exam for first-year undergrads and postgraduates requires students to transcribe about ⅓ to ½ a folio, and provide a suggested script, date, and origin in 45 minutes. We later find out it's a fairly well-known sermon which probably had existing translations. Even accounting for additional research, Dougal would have to be a truly terrible student to take more than a day on this exercise.
(Also, 'provenance' refers to the manuscript's last known locations, whereas 'origin' is where a manuscript was created. Credit where credit is due, Taylor correctly has Dougal note that the 'wedge-shaped ascenders' implied that the manuscript was written in Britain (p.35), but that would be origin not provenance. Incidentally, it's weird that 'some of the letters' had wedging but not others. It's also weird that this literally never comes up again.)
6. Hanbury needs someone who knows 'a serif from an ampersand' (p.22). That's an incredibly low bar - they look nothing alike. Also, discerning between the two wouldn't actually be that useful in transcription. All you need to know is that '&' was an abbreviation for 'et' and you're golden.
7. Dougal (mentally) describes a marginal note as an 'inscription' (p.39). Inscriptions, in a palaeographical context, are texts carved into stone/wood/other materials (aka not written in ink). Incidentally, saying that the note was written in a 'later hand', implicitly because it's a 'crabbed cursive', is odd because Insular Cursive Minuscule, an earlier hand, is very much a 'crabbed cursive'.
At this point, Dougal pretty much stops doing anything related to palaeography and Cambridge so I can chill.
1. William Dougal is a postgraduate in the History faculty. However, the teaching of medieval palaeography, and Caroline Minuscule in particular, is undertaken by the Department of Anglo-Saxon Norse and Celtic (ASNAC). This is particularly egregious as the novel is presumably set in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and T.A.M. Bishop, who wrote books on (Insular) Caroline Minuscule which are authoritative to this day, was teaching at the faculty until 1973, so ASNAC was pretty established in medieval palaeography by that time.
2. The History department would not be physically located in the same building as Dougal's college. Said department (alongside most Humanities departments) has been in the Sidgwick Site since the 1950s. No academic department in Cambridge is located within a college.
(Incidentally, characters' insistence on referring to their college as 'the college' instead of just naming it is extremely odd.)
3. The 'Graduate Common Room' would be the 'Middle Common Room'.
3a. Phillip Primrose appears to be teaching faculty of some sort. If that were the case, he would have been in the Senior Common Room and not the Middle.
4. Relatively minor, but Dougal's thesis is on 'The Influence of the Carolingian court on the transmission of pagan Latin literary texts in the early Middle Ages' (p.17), which sounds obscure and complicated, but was actually relatively well-researched (even in 1982), because it was literally just Virgil and other 'classical' texts.
5. Hanbury wants single 'page' of a medieval manuscript transcribed, translated, and 'have assessed its date and provenance and so forth' (p.21-2). Dougal considers it 'a couple days' work' (p.23). The modern Cambridge exam for first-year undergrads and postgraduates requires students to transcribe about ⅓ to ½ a folio, and provide a suggested script, date, and origin in 45 minutes. We later find out it's a fairly well-known sermon which probably had existing translations. Even accounting for additional research, Dougal would have to be a truly terrible student to take more than a day on this exercise.
(Also, 'provenance' refers to the manuscript's last known locations, whereas 'origin' is where a manuscript was created. Credit where credit is due, Taylor correctly has Dougal note that the 'wedge-shaped ascenders' implied that the manuscript was written in Britain (p.35), but that would be origin not provenance. Incidentally, it's weird that 'some of the letters' had wedging but not others. It's also weird that this literally never comes up again.)
6. Hanbury needs someone who knows 'a serif from an ampersand' (p.22). That's an incredibly low bar - they look nothing alike. Also, discerning between the two wouldn't actually be that useful in transcription. All you need to know is that '&' was an abbreviation for 'et' and you're golden.
7. Dougal (mentally) describes a marginal note as an 'inscription' (p.39). Inscriptions, in a palaeographical context, are texts carved into stone/wood/other materials (aka not written in ink). Incidentally, saying that the note was written in a 'later hand', implicitly because it's a 'crabbed cursive', is odd because Insular Cursive Minuscule, an earlier hand, is very much a 'crabbed cursive'.
At this point, Dougal pretty much stops doing anything related to palaeography and Cambridge so I can chill.
August 17, 2023
The title and the mention of Medieval caught my attention with this one, and I have to say I was not disappointed.
So much out there is 'run-of-the-mill' stuff with predictable stories and endings, but here is something a bit different, that I really enjoyed, and was anxious to know the ending.
Will not give any spoilers...........
Definitely Recommended.
So much out there is 'run-of-the-mill' stuff with predictable stories and endings, but here is something a bit different, that I really enjoyed, and was anxious to know the ending.
Will not give any spoilers...........
Definitely Recommended.
May 3, 2011
As Andrew Taylor has recently won the Diamond Dagger, a sort of Grand Master award in British mystery writing, I thought I ought to sample his work. Caroline Minuscule was his first novel and the start of one of his series, which seem to be each very different from the others. The protagonist in this one is William Dougal, who seems to be a bit of a slacker, if those were around in the early 80s. He's pursuing a degree in some sort of medieval history field, using up a small inheritance. William is a keen and humorous observer of the academic life and characters around him. When he goes to meet his paleography tutor and finds him garotted, it is the first step down a slippery slope. He and his girlfriend become involved in a treasure hunt which will take them from London to Cambridge to the Fen country and into some danger. During that time, William will become a different person. He's not sure he likes the person he's become, but doesn't have a moral foundation to keep himself from becoming it. William, then, is rather an anti-hero and I look forward to reading more of his adventures.
June 6, 2014
This is another of the books garnered from a dollar-a-bag book sale. In comparison to the others I have so far read, this one is a keeper, and a solid invitation to more books by the same author.
The story begins with a graduate student discovering his dissertation advisor murdered. He sees that no one else is around, and slips out of the building without being noticed, and does not call the police. His inaction develops into intrigue and murder in the pursuit of a fortune in diamonds. The book was reviewed in the New York Times Book Review. According to the back cover of the book, the review included the statement, “It’s a rather unusual book … with sharply etched characters and a rather shocking amorality.” What was “rather shocking” in 1982 no longer is. In fact, the book is an illustration of what happens when one “chip[s] away a couple of layers—inexperience and outmoded, secondhand morality.” It is very much the same kind of thing seen in Breaking Bad, where Walt sloughs off that same sort of “outmoded, secondhand morality.”
Nonetheless, the characters are very well-drawn, and the narrative, both as to style and to plot, well-done.
The story begins with a graduate student discovering his dissertation advisor murdered. He sees that no one else is around, and slips out of the building without being noticed, and does not call the police. His inaction develops into intrigue and murder in the pursuit of a fortune in diamonds. The book was reviewed in the New York Times Book Review. According to the back cover of the book, the review included the statement, “It’s a rather unusual book … with sharply etched characters and a rather shocking amorality.” What was “rather shocking” in 1982 no longer is. In fact, the book is an illustration of what happens when one “chip[s] away a couple of layers—inexperience and outmoded, secondhand morality.” It is very much the same kind of thing seen in Breaking Bad, where Walt sloughs off that same sort of “outmoded, secondhand morality.”
Nonetheless, the characters are very well-drawn, and the narrative, both as to style and to plot, well-done.
December 9, 2010
This turned out to be a sort of stealth reread, since before I got to the second chapter I had a sudden vision of exactly how it ended, without any particular memory of what happened in between. Not so very much, as it turned out--the only mystery-solving takes place in a single and complete flash of insight that happens outside of Dougal's POV and is resolved before he even knows about it. It isn't often that I find myself comparing books disfavorably to The Da Vinci Code in any respect.
The real action of the book consists of how circumstances conspire to set Dougal on a path of crime that he wouldn't have cold-bloodedly applied himself to, in which respect it reminded me a little of some of Ruth Rendell's standalone crime tragedies. As an introduction to a purported series character I find it unusual and fairly offputting, and having inadvertently begun the series for a second time I find myself once again disinclined to continue the series, although I wouldn't necessarily avoid picking up another book by the author.
The real action of the book consists of how circumstances conspire to set Dougal on a path of crime that he wouldn't have cold-bloodedly applied himself to, in which respect it reminded me a little of some of Ruth Rendell's standalone crime tragedies. As an introduction to a purported series character I find it unusual and fairly offputting, and having inadvertently begun the series for a second time I find myself once again disinclined to continue the series, although I wouldn't necessarily avoid picking up another book by the author.
May 28, 2017
Fairly decent for a first novel. Ultimately the plot is a little too predictable but an easy read and enjoyable.
July 15, 2021
I can’t resist a book that promises a mysterious medieval manuscript. Whether it’s a ghost story or (as here) a crime caper, it’s bound to draw me in. Caroline Minuscule (an important early medieval script) was the prolific crime author Andrew Taylor’s first novel and features a larger than life and distinctly amoral postgrad student by the name of William Dougal. What starts out as a straightforward murder mystery soon turns into something altogether more surprising; Dougal and his girlfriend Amanda become involved in a labyrinthine plot centring around the said manuscript (written in Caroline Minuscule of course), dodgy vicars, violent hitmen, a master of disguise and multiple murder . Strange, fast moving and highly entertaining, Caroline Minuscule is well worth a read for lovers of crime fiction who fancy something just a little bit different.
April 16, 2022
An entertaining little romp, marred by an unfortunate attention to too much detail (who really needs to read about the protagonist's tooth-cleaning habits?) and insufficient ingenuity.
It comes across in places a bit as though it had been written by Edmund Crispin, but fortunately it's nowhere near as inept. The characters are a cross between caricatures and stereotypes, and most of them seem as though they are NPCs in a dungeon romp. And while it is apparent that nobody is quite what they seem, what they actually are is as obvious as boots underneath the curtain.
While the action was entertaining, I found I couldn't believe it most of the time - everything was all just too convenient.
But it was fun to read, worth the quid spent in the charity shop, and marginally worth the few hours spent reading it. But I probably won't go out of my way to read another one of this series.
It comes across in places a bit as though it had been written by Edmund Crispin, but fortunately it's nowhere near as inept. The characters are a cross between caricatures and stereotypes, and most of them seem as though they are NPCs in a dungeon romp. And while it is apparent that nobody is quite what they seem, what they actually are is as obvious as boots underneath the curtain.
While the action was entertaining, I found I couldn't believe it most of the time - everything was all just too convenient.
But it was fun to read, worth the quid spent in the charity shop, and marginally worth the few hours spent reading it. But I probably won't go out of my way to read another one of this series.
July 24, 2019
Caroline Miniscule is a cosy thriller thriller scented with a whiff of gentility from a bygone age.
Unfortunate circumstances plus the hope of getting rich easily turn Wiliam Dougal into a gentlemen private detective.
The characters are strong and the storyline intriguing, which drives you to get to the last page, even though the pace and tension don't match that of many thrillers. It has more the pace of an Agatha Christie than a Lee Child, but is a very enjoyable read. Perfect for long summer evenings when you don't have a care in the world.
Unfortunate circumstances plus the hope of getting rich easily turn Wiliam Dougal into a gentlemen private detective.
The characters are strong and the storyline intriguing, which drives you to get to the last page, even though the pace and tension don't match that of many thrillers. It has more the pace of an Agatha Christie than a Lee Child, but is a very enjoyable read. Perfect for long summer evenings when you don't have a care in the world.
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August 3, 2020One of the most enticing medieval whodunits. I'm a medievalist who does not usually like reading fiction set in the Middle Ages, and am lukewarm on whodunits, but this one was marvelous. I am quite sure people otherwise not obsessed with medieval manuscripts will also enjoy it, as they did the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
November 16, 2022
Rather disappointing earlier novel by this author. I couldn't like the main character, William Dougal or his girlfriend so it was difficult to be involved in their investigation, based on their self enrichment. The puzzle is fun but the murders gratuitous. Not at all typical of Andrew Taylor's later much greater novels.
January 17, 2024
Caroline Miniscule
What I love about Taylor's writing is the extraneous detail he includes when describing anything. The stories are just the best, so easy to read but needing some concentration to follow; also, they're all so different.
What I love about Taylor's writing is the extraneous detail he includes when describing anything. The stories are just the best, so easy to read but needing some concentration to follow; also, they're all so different.
December 11, 2019
Disappointing
December 19, 2021
Would have given 31/2 A cosy first novel . Enjoyed it but too predictable
July 3, 2022
Pass by this one
May 20, 2024
I was really disappointed by this book. I have read lots of books by this author previously but this one didn't engage me at all.
February 11, 2025
The plot was rather ludicrous and although the writing itself was good, I couldn't really engage with the characters. The story was too fanciful for me. 5/10.
June 26, 2025
Sorry Mr Taylor but I didn't like this book very much. I just didn't like Douglas or Amanda and the other characters weren't very nice, apart of Pee Pee.
I got so bored.
I got so bored.
December 7, 2010
My expectations were that this would be a pretty traditional mystery. As usual I'm not quite sure where the expectations come from though probably from the fact that the later Taylor's I've read have had traditional mystery elements at their hearts even if that wasn't usually all they were. I got thrown by the story veering off the path of a regular mystery and becoming a book in which the protagonist, history postgrad William Dougal, is more of a committer of crimes than a solver of them. Having my head and expectations messed with by books is always a good thing though and I really enjoyed this tale, never having a clue where it was going to end up. I know that there is a series featuring Dougal and I wonder how on earth Taylor follows this book up. It'll be fun finding out.
July 4, 2011
I liked the main character (and narrator) of this book more and more as the book progressed and we found out more about him. Basically, he's lazy and self-centred. Even the author admits that he (the main character that is!) is of low moral fibre. So when our "hero" finds his university tutor's dead body, naturally he slopes off instead of informing the proper authorities. That's where the plot starts, because due to this decision our hero and his girlfriend get drawn into a situation where they could become very rich or maybe just dead. It moves along at a good pace, but not so fast that there's no time for character development and plenty of black humour along the way. I definitely want to read the rest of the series.
books-i-have
August 5, 2016The first book in Andrew Taylor's acclaimed William Dougal crime series - from the Richard & Judy bestselling author of The American Boy.
William Dougal, a post-graduate expert in the medieval script of Caroline Minuscule, stumbles on the garroted corpse of his tutor - and finds himself embroiled in a hunt for a cache of diamonds, a deadly fairy story in which no one obeys the rules, least of all Dougal's girlfriend Amanda. As the body count rises, the couple pursue both the diamonds and their doom from London, to an East Anglian cathedral close, from Cambridge to a wintry Suffolk estuary.
February 8, 2010
No, Caroline Miniscule isn't the name of the main character, it's a medieval handwriting used in a medieval document that comes into graduate student William Dougal's possession in the first part of the mystery. The second part is devoted to unraveling the mystery surrounding the fragment, trying to figure out who are the good guys and the bad guys, and finding (and keeping) the treasure at the end. A fun literary mystery.
May 14, 2016
Won the Crime Writers Association of England's best first crime novel for 1982. Has a foot in the golden age thriller genre with an academic drawn into a scheme. Reminded me of Eric Ambler or Anthony Price but with the doubtful morality of Jonathan Gash. An engaging read with an unexpected twist at the end. A credit to the genre. I first read it 30 years ago and happily had forgotten enough to be entertained and surprised second time around.
February 22, 2010
This was the author's first book and it shows. It's amazing to compare this with his later Lydmouth series or Bleeding Heart Square. He's come a long way since writing this poorly plotted piece.
December 3, 2011
Very plodding and poor plot development. His later works are much better.
September 10, 2012
Never got into it. Real letdown after Bleeding Heart Square.....
October 16, 2014
As a first book this is first class. Andrew Taylor is certainly a one of my favourite modern crime writers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews