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Merlin Investigation #2
The Lancelot Murders
When Guenevere and the faithless knight Lancelot plan to annouce themselves as the rightful rulers of England during her birthday celebration, King Arthur and Merlin make their own plans for thwarting the two until murder enters the picture and they are forced to help the enemy. Original.
312 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 5, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 10, 2012
While the Storyline was good, the writer did not do a good job portraying the time. One character had Cancer.. something they did not know exsisted during that period of time, and the way the characters spoke also did nothing for the book. I got through it, but its not ine i would ever re-read or keep on my shelf
December 24, 2019
Interesting versions of the Arthurian characters wrapped in a murder mystery. Merlin is central to the story and moves the plot along quite swiftly.
October 26, 2009
I can't believe they wasted paper on this thing.
November 26, 2022
Merlin is back in this continuing tale of Merlin as a scholarly detective determined, along with Arthur, to forge a new way of ruling a country.
When Arthur's estranged wife, Guenevere, marries Lancelot, Arthur considers looking the other way but a plot is uncovered to dispose him of the throne by his wife by meeting with envoys from the Byzantine court - and that cannot happen. So Arthur, Merlin, and a collection of other folks head for the castle where Guen and Lancelot have been holed up, determined to wrest control back of the situation in any way possible - which comes about as Guen's birthday celebration.
Unfortunately, during the leading up to the festivities (and while an incredible storm rages outside, washing away roads, livestock, and people as well as damaging the ships of some of the folks invited to attend the party) Guen's father is found murdered, with Lancelot standing over him. Not only that, but the man was murdered by the use of one of the two blades Lance and Guen exchanged with their marriage vows.
Guen doesn't believe Lancelot could possibly have killed her father - and is willing to subjugate herself to Arthur if Merlin agrees to take on the mystery. Since Guen has to be taken into hand, Merlin agrees...but then there's another murder....
Some nice twists and turns.
When Arthur's estranged wife, Guenevere, marries Lancelot, Arthur considers looking the other way but a plot is uncovered to dispose him of the throne by his wife by meeting with envoys from the Byzantine court - and that cannot happen. So Arthur, Merlin, and a collection of other folks head for the castle where Guen and Lancelot have been holed up, determined to wrest control back of the situation in any way possible - which comes about as Guen's birthday celebration.
Unfortunately, during the leading up to the festivities (and while an incredible storm rages outside, washing away roads, livestock, and people as well as damaging the ships of some of the folks invited to attend the party) Guen's father is found murdered, with Lancelot standing over him. Not only that, but the man was murdered by the use of one of the two blades Lance and Guen exchanged with their marriage vows.
Guen doesn't believe Lancelot could possibly have killed her father - and is willing to subjugate herself to Arthur if Merlin agrees to take on the mystery. Since Guen has to be taken into hand, Merlin agrees...but then there's another murder....
Some nice twists and turns.
January 16, 2025
More court intrigue and back stabbing along with too much drinking and whining by King Arthur. Add in a truly unfaithful former wife and her new "husband" and a lot of scheming emissaries from other countries and you get more murders. Don't forget the treason and that Merlin is really not a wizard, but a scholar. Still a decent series. Did not have the murderer pegged in this one.
On to the Pendragon Murders now.
On to the Pendragon Murders now.
February 22, 2021
I enjoyed this different viewpoint of the familiar cast of characters of Camelot. Since they often seem idealized and perfect, I liked the depictions of their various possible faults. The plot rambled a bit, and then ended abruptly, but the juxtaposition of cultural factions of the day kept my interest, as multiple political viewpoints were revealed and explored.
November 10, 2022
This definitely could have been better with more research on pre-medieval Europe, languages at that time, and cultural customs. The mystery itself was interesting enough but there were too many modern elements for me to believe that the book was set during the historical Arthurian period of the 600s.
November 13, 2009
This is the second (I think) in the series. I really liked the first one (The Excalibur murders or something like that). This one was…something to kill a day with but it fell far short of its promise. What I like in general about the series is that this is what Camelot would have been like, stripped of the Hollywood/Broadway romanticism. This is gritty, dirty Camelot where Merlin is merely a scholar and the knights are well…brutes.
One of the bigger faults of this is there is over a hundred pages of set up before any mystery even happens. Guinevere and Lancelot have formalized their relationship in a bigamous marriage and Guin has been maneuvering behind Arthur’s back, representing herself to Emperor Justinian (who would have been THE major power in Europe and the Middle East at the time) as the true ruler of England. Arthur gets wind of it, imprisons the couple but not before Guin has sent out birthday party invitations.
Merlin decides they can capitalize on it and sends invites to half the diplomats in the civilized world. That way Arthur can usurp Guin’s little plan. Once everyone gets to Guin’s castles, Kings and diplomats begin to die and it looks like Lancelot (who spends most of this book escaping his cell again and again). Merlin and Arthur are pushing for a more just system of justice so they try to prove Lancelot innocent or guilty (as Arthur is hoping) with a trial, all the while trying to keep safe in the adders nest of diplomats. This could have been exciting. It was okay but no better than that.
Far too much of it was repetitive. The red herrings weren’t terribly well set and worse Merlin spends far too much time whining he’s sick of humans and their evil and he wants to run away or die. Seriously. Could have cut 50 pages out of this with that stuff alone. Then there’s a few major plot holes like someone escaping then suddenly back in custody without ever mentioning he was caught again and some of it looked anachronistic but it’s the middle of nano and I wasn’t wasting time looking it up. If you like Arthur and Merlin you might enjoy it. If you like Guin and Lancelot, you’re going to hate this.
One of the bigger faults of this is there is over a hundred pages of set up before any mystery even happens. Guinevere and Lancelot have formalized their relationship in a bigamous marriage and Guin has been maneuvering behind Arthur’s back, representing herself to Emperor Justinian (who would have been THE major power in Europe and the Middle East at the time) as the true ruler of England. Arthur gets wind of it, imprisons the couple but not before Guin has sent out birthday party invitations.
Merlin decides they can capitalize on it and sends invites to half the diplomats in the civilized world. That way Arthur can usurp Guin’s little plan. Once everyone gets to Guin’s castles, Kings and diplomats begin to die and it looks like Lancelot (who spends most of this book escaping his cell again and again). Merlin and Arthur are pushing for a more just system of justice so they try to prove Lancelot innocent or guilty (as Arthur is hoping) with a trial, all the while trying to keep safe in the adders nest of diplomats. This could have been exciting. It was okay but no better than that.
Far too much of it was repetitive. The red herrings weren’t terribly well set and worse Merlin spends far too much time whining he’s sick of humans and their evil and he wants to run away or die. Seriously. Could have cut 50 pages out of this with that stuff alone. Then there’s a few major plot holes like someone escaping then suddenly back in custody without ever mentioning he was caught again and some of it looked anachronistic but it’s the middle of nano and I wasn’t wasting time looking it up. If you like Arthur and Merlin you might enjoy it. If you like Guin and Lancelot, you’re going to hate this.
September 3, 2014
This is much improved from its predecessor 'The Excalibur Murders' - so much that I do believe adult audiences will quite enjoy this one as well. But this too could have been better and I'll come to that in a bit.
Camelot and its fascinating characters return with even greater depth (although Mordred is missing and Morgan plays an abysmally small part) though in the settings of Corfe Castle - where the ever treacherous Guinevere and Lancelot have planned treason upon treason. A turn of events early on results in Arthur and Merlin playing hosts to a whole plethora of international delegates and diplomats, chief amongst whom are the Byzantine whose emperor, Justinian, has greater designs over England. A hapless Colin is in charge of arranging for and overseeing the event, however a spanner is thrown in the happy events when murder is committed and the suspicion falls on Lancelot. And therein lies a tale of deceit and political intrigue that resonates with echoes of the modern world...
The prose as usual is light hearted and free flowing and the plot manages to hold its own quite well. However, where this book fails ultimately is in its absurdly crafted end - while in 'The Excalibur Murders', Blair broke the suspense early on and hence failed to engage readers, this time around, the plot seems so contrived and needlessly stretched around the middle, that it seems as if the author too felt somewhat bored, and so chose an abrupt end to an otherwise entertaining affair.
My recommendation stays the same as for other JMC Blair books in this series - definitely for YAs and with caution for an older audience.
Camelot and its fascinating characters return with even greater depth (although Mordred is missing and Morgan plays an abysmally small part) though in the settings of Corfe Castle - where the ever treacherous Guinevere and Lancelot have planned treason upon treason. A turn of events early on results in Arthur and Merlin playing hosts to a whole plethora of international delegates and diplomats, chief amongst whom are the Byzantine whose emperor, Justinian, has greater designs over England. A hapless Colin is in charge of arranging for and overseeing the event, however a spanner is thrown in the happy events when murder is committed and the suspicion falls on Lancelot. And therein lies a tale of deceit and political intrigue that resonates with echoes of the modern world...
The prose as usual is light hearted and free flowing and the plot manages to hold its own quite well. However, where this book fails ultimately is in its absurdly crafted end - while in 'The Excalibur Murders', Blair broke the suspense early on and hence failed to engage readers, this time around, the plot seems so contrived and needlessly stretched around the middle, that it seems as if the author too felt somewhat bored, and so chose an abrupt end to an otherwise entertaining affair.
My recommendation stays the same as for other JMC Blair books in this series - definitely for YAs and with caution for an older audience.
August 29, 2014
I am a huge King Arthur fan, Lancelot fan and mostly a Merlin fan.
This is a different approach to the era and the persons and for big Guienevere fans or really for those who don't want to see the bad side of Arthur.
This is the second in the series which I just picked up. I will be going back for the first and any more but not in a rush.
It is a fun murder mystery series set in Arthurian England with all the relevant historical use of implements. I was really glad to see Merlin as the detective and also as the Mad Scientist - science is magic really! I didn't enjoy some parts of Arthur's character although I appreciate they probably come close to any real Arthur's behaviour. I loved the wickedness of Guinevere and the uselessness of Lancelot - he's a great athlete but follows his lady like a puppy dog and has limited reasoning of his own.
Quite a lot of sexual references without any sex scenes, some graphic violence and some really interesting twists on geography!
A fun mystery book but it felt a bit like he wanted to write a mystery and just happened to set it in Arthur and Merlin land.
This is a different approach to the era and the persons and for big Guienevere fans or really for those who don't want to see the bad side of Arthur.
This is the second in the series which I just picked up. I will be going back for the first and any more but not in a rush.
It is a fun murder mystery series set in Arthurian England with all the relevant historical use of implements. I was really glad to see Merlin as the detective and also as the Mad Scientist - science is magic really! I didn't enjoy some parts of Arthur's character although I appreciate they probably come close to any real Arthur's behaviour. I loved the wickedness of Guinevere and the uselessness of Lancelot - he's a great athlete but follows his lady like a puppy dog and has limited reasoning of his own.
Quite a lot of sexual references without any sex scenes, some graphic violence and some really interesting twists on geography!
A fun mystery book but it felt a bit like he wanted to write a mystery and just happened to set it in Arthur and Merlin land.
October 14, 2011
The timetable of the story is carefully noted; it takes places a few months after the events in The Excalibur Murders, re-introducing characters who played minor parts in that story but now holding more major ones.
The characters are delineated with care, new ones introduced and made memorable, even those whose stay is short and their departure violent. It’s a story with a lot of laughs, in spite of the seriousness of the subject. I look forward to the next installment in the tale of Merlin, Detective, but worry that, at the rate the inhabitants of Camelot and environs are being killed off, there won’t be many more crimes to plot or perpetrators to commit them. In the meantime, settled down with The Lancelot Murders and enjoy this tale of Arthur and his knights and the non-wizard wise-cracking Merlin.
The characters are delineated with care, new ones introduced and made memorable, even those whose stay is short and their departure violent. It’s a story with a lot of laughs, in spite of the seriousness of the subject. I look forward to the next installment in the tale of Merlin, Detective, but worry that, at the rate the inhabitants of Camelot and environs are being killed off, there won’t be many more crimes to plot or perpetrators to commit them. In the meantime, settled down with The Lancelot Murders and enjoy this tale of Arthur and his knights and the non-wizard wise-cracking Merlin.
February 21, 2012
I didn't even finish the book, it is so pathetic. I don't expect a historical novel to be perfect, but couldn't they at least have made SOME small attempt at historical accuracy? Guinevere's birthday cake? Seriously? First of all, people didn't really celebrate birthdays back then, and secondly, cake wasn't even invented for another several hundred years. Where did they get wine from? Were there magical grape vines growing in England at the time? They would have been drinking mead. Don't even get me started on the language. I would have appreciated at least a little research into actual history. It doesn't have to be perfect, and I understand the need for artistic license, but really? This is awfully annoying.
June 23, 2015
Overall, I thought this book was well-written and had a good plot. My major concern with the book was the pace. The first book in the series I felt went about the uncovering of the mystery and villain at a good pace. This book was a bit repetitive and seemed to drag at certain points. I do have a soft spot for the King Arthur era though, so I'd still recommend this book to anyone looking for a slightly humorous mystery.
February 9, 2018
I read the reviews before I finished the book. I agree that the second book was not as good as the first. The author did not do enough historical homework when he used the word cancer. Sometimes less is more. Overall I found the fantasy concepts interesting. I need to find another author who captures the time more accurately. Still like the portrayal of women here, not sure how authentic, but refreshing since most women are poorly treated.
June 3, 2009
Interesting characters portrayed as real people with real weaknesses. Murder/intrigue around Guenevere's birthday party. Too slow unfolding for me.
January 13, 2012
I was hoping the second book in this series would be stronger but no such luck.
August 22, 2012
Read this one first. Kind of a fun read, if you like mystery and Merlin. Looking for the first and third now.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews