The Leper's Return

Knights Templar #6

by Michael Jecks

The Knights Templar

They had all joined taking three vows: poverty, chastity, and obedience…for they were monks: warrior monks, dedicated to theprotection of pilgrims in the Holy Land -- until stories spread by anavaricious king who wanted their wealth for his own destroyed the order.

There was one knight, however, who escaped the stake, vowing justiceas he watched his innocent brothers die.

A Dastardly Deed

When the mutilated body of midwife and healer Agatha Kyteler is discovered in a hedge one frozen wintry morning, it at first appears the lack of clues will render the crime unsolvable -- until a frightened local youth inexplicably flees his village and a hue and cry is raised. Sir Baldwin Furnshill, once a Knight Templar, however, has doubts about the boy’s guilt, and enlists friend and bailiff of Lydford Castle, Simon Puttock, in the hunt for a murderer. But what they seek lies somewhere on the darker side of the village of Wefford, beneath layers of jealousy, suspicion, and hatred -- and the buried truth could prove fatal to anyone who disturbs it.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Medieval, Historical Mystery, Historical, Fiction, Crime

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

Michael Jecks is a best-selling writer of historical novels. The son of an Actuary, and the youngest of four brothers, he worked in the computer industry before becoming a novelist full time in 1994

He is the author of the internationally popular Templar series, perhaps the longest crime series written by a living author. Unusually, the series looks again at actual events and murders committed about the early fourteenth century, a fabulous time of treachery, civil war, deceit and corruption. Famine, war and disease led to widespread despair, and yet the people showed themselves to be resilient. The series is available as ebooks and all paper formats from Harper Collins, Headline and Simon and Schuster. More recently he has completed his Vintener Trilogy, three stories in his Bloody Mary series, and a new Crusades story set in 1096, Pilgrim's War, following some of the people in the first Crusade on their long pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He has also written a highly acclaimed modern spy thriller, Act of Vengeance.

His books have won him international acclaim and in 2007 his Death Ship of Dartmouth was shortlisted for the Harrogate prize for the best crime novel of the year.

A member of the Society of Authors and Royal Literary Society, Jecks was the Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association in 2004-2005. In 2005 he became a member of the Detection Club.

From 1998 he organised the CWA Debut Dagger competition for two years, helping unpublished authors to win their first contracts He judged the CWA/Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for three years.

Michael Jecks is a popular speaker at literary festivals and historical meetings. He is a popular after-dinner and motivational speaker and has spoken at events from Colombia to Italy, Portugal to Alaska.

His own highlights are: being the Grand Marshal of the first parade at the New Orleans 2014 Mardi Gras, designing the Michael Jecks fountain pen for Conway Stewart, and being the International Guest of Honour at the Crime Writers of Canada Bloody Words convention.

Michael lives, walks, writes and paints in North Dartmoor.

Reviews

[Michael Jecks · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was always rare for my old agent to speak kindly of my work. She believed firmly in the principle that authors were there to suffer, not to be flattered unnecessarily. However this one she always spoke of fondly, calling it my first love story.
I guess it was, but it's also an accurate depiction of the life of a leper in medieval England, comparing the richest folk and the poorest in a community. The life of a leper was so appalling, I still cannot give a talk about them without choking. Naturally, as with most things medieval, the concepts of the treatment were logical for their time - but atrociously cruel in outcome.
Still, this book is set just as civil war looms (it did quite regularly in the early 1300s), and a rich goldsmith is murdered in his own hall. Because of the ravings of one or two bigots, it looks like the town will take revenge on a community of lepers unless someone can find the real killer and stop the slaughter.
I know - great fun. I still enjoy this book!

[Tasha Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved all of the books I've read in this series. It has been years and I've loaned the books out so this review is not up to my normal standards.

I love how accurate the details of the time period are. I can lose myself in the story because I'm not correcting the author.

The mystery had me on the edge of my seat. Normally I know "who done it" fairly early on in books but Michael keeps me guessing for more than 3/4s of the book. The characters are real and people you can relate to. There is humor, fear, death, as well as good, bad, and indifferent people. I look forward to finding my list and reading more of the books in this series and even rereading books I've already read.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 3 out of 5]

Denna bok är skapligt intressant. Den faller i fällan där ledtrådarna är för begravda - eller också är jag för trött i huvudet för att förstå dem - och vissa av karaktärerna är kanske lite för commedia dell arte. Detta sagt måste inte alla böcker vara storartade konstverk - ibland kanske det är fullt tillräckligt att vara en anständigt spännande deckarhistoria med ett par skickligt maskerade långfingrar pekande mot hycklare och bigotter.

Har man läst de andra är den värd att läsa, men den kanske inte är boken att börja med för den står inte riktigt riktigt på egen hand.

[David Serxner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I get Michael Jeck's books sent to me from by my family in England, as I do not know if you can get them in the States. He does his research. The books are excellent--very well written. I like a good mystery, and these most certainly are!

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE LEPER’S RETURN (Historical-England-1320) – VG
Jecks, Michael, 6th in series
Headline, 1998- UK Paperback – ISBN 0747259518
*** Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King’s Peace, has his hands full. The town’s leper hospital has a new master and a town suddenly turned violent against the hospital and its residents. Godfrey of London, the town’s most prominent citizen, has been murdered, his daughter and servant attacked. Everyone is quick to place the blame on the local conman and womanizer, John of Irelaunde, but Baldwin doesn’t believe it. He has the help of his friend Bailiff Simon Puttock. Simon and his wife have come visiting, bringing the young woman Jeanne, whom Baldwin hopes to marry. Finally, there is Jeanne’s maid servant, Emma, and an enthusiastic Mastiff “Chops.”
*** Jecks brings his characters to life with humor, insecurities, determination, and resolve. He presents a view of life in Medieval England that illustrates the role of religion and superstition in people’s lives. Jecks provides a story that is layered and twists satisfactorily along the way. I learned, I laughed, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just finished re reading this book and once again it hits the mark, the twists and turns of the plot had me guessing right to the end even though I have read it before some years ago.
I was really caught up in the happenings and found myself googling leprosy to find out more about this awful diesease.
A fantastic read which I thoroughly recommend to everyone. Read it.

[Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites in the series.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read nearly all of this series, and have thoroughly enjoyed the history and cultural details of life in medieval England. This is early on in the series; Sir Baldwin is unmarried for example. It deals with leprosy and the treatment of lepers at the time, and is close to home for Sir Baldwin instead of in some other part of England.

In this story, the mystery is a murder and attack in a wealthy man's home. Lepers and the local leper colony feature strongly along with the bigotry against these suffering people. Many at the time thought that leprosy was a curse on those who were sexually perverted or immoral, and that idea as well as various illicit affairs features strongly in the story.

This is one of the better books in the series; quick and to the point, with lots of Baldwin and Puttock rather than focusing so much on side characters as many of the later books tend toward.

[Janneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het leuke aan de Sir Baldwin Misteries vind ik onder andere ook dat de schrijver vaak eerst een inleiding geeft over bepaalde maatschappelijke gebruiken in de tijd waarin het verhaal zich afspeelt. Niet alleen de goede gebruiken, maar ook misstanden. Zo vertelt Michael Jecks in dit boek eerst over hoe er gedacht werd over melaatsen (leprozen). Het verhaal zelf gaat dan ook gedeeltelijk over een leprozerie en de bewoners.
Het is weer een goed opgezet en verteld verhaal, waarin je tot het einde toe in spanning blijft. Een echt "who done it".

[K.L.]

I always find books about leprosy fascinating, as I do with books set in convents and monasteries. Medieval religion is just so interesting. Here we had a complex story of a man seemingly being clobbered to death while his daughter is assaulted and his man servant wounded. Throw in a group of villagers intent on getting rid of the nearby lazar house, a charming Irish con artist with a sob story, a few lepers, a lot of adultery and head bashing -in with the fact that EVERYONE has something to hide, and you have a very interesting story that I polished off in one setting.

[anesthine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this book. With clever, fast-paced text and a thoughtfully written mystery, it had me going “aha!” every time a new clue connected to previously presented information. The main characters are flawed enough to be interesting while being genuinely good people, and through each chapter I found myself hoping everything would work out for them. After two or three books that were an absolute slog to read, this was a breath of fresh air.

[Lynne Tull · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seemed to me that Baldwin and Simon would never figure out who killed Godfrey. Actually, I don't think they did. The mystery was solved, but not due to Baldwin or Simon. However, all was well that ended well. I thought Mr. Jecks would ever close it down. The conclusion was rehashed several times before 'The End'.

[Robert Anastasiades · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Leper’s Return

Brilliant book , had me guessing who the culprit was almost to the end , full of twists and turns ,brilliant continuity from previous books , authors attention to details is great , thoroughly enjoying this series of books .

[Bethan Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another outing for Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King’s Peace, and Bailiff Simon Puttock. The goldsmith is found dead, possibly robbed because some plate is missing.
Took me a while to get into this book, and it doesn’t really get going story-wise for me.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-plotted and engaging story. A good, but not outstanding, series.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a particular favorite for me. I loved learning about the rituals regarding lepers.

[Nick Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A captivating murder mystery. Fun read.

[Bianca Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book that brilliantly illustrates how ignorance can easily turn into fanatic intolerance, a theme that feels strikingly relevant in today’s world.

[Jill Rebryna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was kind of a fun book. Simon is interesting, since he obviously has partner or better status with Baldwin, and that's always heart-warming to see.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in December 1999.

The treatment of lepers in the medieval period is something distasteful to a modern viewpoint, an example of extreme inhumanity driven by fear. It is a part of our history which makes the homophobia sparked by AIDS pale into insignificance (though parallels can be drawn); and it went on for hundreds of years. Such a terrible disease, not just incurable (at the time), but bringing horrific deformity, must have been (they thought) a punishment from God, a judgement for some terrible sin. It didn't take much imagination to make the assumption that lepers were monsters of depravity. This provided the excuse for persecution, as the supposed extreme infectiousness of the disease provided the excuse for making lepers into outcasts.

The official attitude of the church was slightly different, and it was thought to be a duty to provide some sort of shelter, in the form of leper hospitals. These were often pretty squalid, and little care and treatment could be provided. They also formed focal points for persecution, and massacres of lepers are recorded in times of misfortune, alongside persecution of Jews.

This is a sombre subject for a crime novel, and is reasonably well handled by Jecks. It is the attempts to relieve the mood with low comedy that are the biggest failures - a clumsy dog and its battle with a tyrannical maidservant. In the end, they (and the romantic subplot) spoil the novel. Of course, it is intended as a piece of entertainment, and it succeeds on this level, but it could have been much more without the soft edges.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a few years ago so this review will be, of necessity, brief.

The idea of scapegoating a group of harmless lepers resonates today with groups of politically motivated losers trying to pin the sins of a few on the many. It also resonates through history as groups of people hungry for power blame a minority for their society's ill. The most egregious in recent history being the Holocaust.

In this case the murder of a leading citizen, goldsmith, Godfrey of Harwood, is blamed on the leper colony South of town and it is up to Sir Godfrey and his friend Bailiff Simon Puttock to set things right. In many of the Knights Templar series' books the villain is identified early but in this case there are many false leads before the killer is identified.

As in all books of the series, the research is impeccable. I felt as if I had left the 21st century and moved to medieval England as I read this volume. In addition, Jeck's characterizations are very well done including the superstitions and false beliefs of people in those days.

There were times the story dragged a bit but overall I was kept engrossed as the plot unfolded.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a murder mystery set in medieval England. I expected the author would take me to the Holy Land given that date and the title of the book. We never left the English town where the tale began. Why leave when so much was going on where we were? Leprosy and a leper hospital were the basic subjects of the book, but there were murders, infidelities, love stories, riots, dog bites. In short, the author took me here, there and everywhere and I lived to give him four stars for his efforts. Read the synopsys to find out what the book was about because I went off on a tangent of my own researching the terrible disease of leprosy. It is a death sentence, but ninety-five per cent of the world population is immune, so all of you reading this review, take a deep breath. One of the lepers in the book was surely elated to find he did not have true leprosy although he had lived the horrible lepers' life for nearly a decade. How could that be possible? I am not about to tell you the answer. You have to read the book to get that piece of information. I like this author's style of writing. His mechanics of good writing were fine.
Thank you, Mr. Jecks, for a good read.

[Jay Langer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review contains spoilers for The Leper's Return.

Rating: 2/5

I found this book too boring to hate. Much of that had to do with the courtship between Jeanne and... uh... *looks up the name of the main character* Baldwin. It wasn't terrible- there were scenes between them that were charming-, but the conflict with Jeanne's maid, Emma, dragged down the novel's pacing. Plus this conflict's resolution was rather abrupt and, dare I say, too easy.

Just like the novel's mystery, in fact! It didn't feel like Baldwin and Simon found the culprit organically. Sure, they examined a few clues and talked to a couple witnesses, but any actual deduction took a backseat to the... Well, I hesitate to call it a subplot because the Baldwin-Jeanne-Emma conflict seemed to take up way more time than the novel's main plot. Because of this, Baldwin and Simon don't come off as competent sleuths, especially when the reveal of how the murder went down is handed over to them by the culprits. (That isn't much of an exaggeration, by the way.)

All in all, the novel was harmless, but it's a damning indictment of this mystery novel's quality when the mystery is poorly handled.

[Lucy Barnhouse]

This was a pleasant mystery, with fine characterizations. The plot was, perhaps, a bit labored, but the novel is still enjoyable. I appreciated that Jecks makes his characters well-rounded and complex, with lively interior lives, and that he has a cast drawn from all levels of society, not just the elites. (Neither of these things is to be taken for granted in historical fiction set in the Middle Ages, in my experience!) I found the assumption that strict isolation of lepers and loathing towards them were normative to be grating... but this is an interpretative assumption that's been shared by many historians, and Jecks has clearly done his research. Also, the emotional responses of individual characters are very thoughtfully treated. Full disclosure: I'm probably more sensitive to depictions of medieval leprosy than most, because it's what I study... which is why I picked up this novel. I liked it much better than the first in the series (which I read, or at least started, years ago.)

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Leper's Return is set in 1320, and Jecks' has created more depth for his characters and a much tighter plot (and subplots)than occurs in The Crediton Killings.

There are more interesting characters included and all of them are well-drawn. As the number of characters expanded so did the subplots: the murder of a goldsmith, a merchant cuckolded by his wife, a leper colony, a potential marriage, an interfering and obnoxious maid, a huge mastiff, an eccentric Irishman--all woven into the doings of the small village of Crediton.

I liked this one so much better than The Crediton Killings. Of course there is a sense of familiarity with the characters, but the additional characters are all interesting, and all of the characters (including Sir Baldwin) just have a greater presence.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jecks' sense of time and place is impeccable and the mystery twists and turns quite nicely. And, the subplots, especially the relationship between Baldwin and Jeanne feel real and realistically portrayed. Yet, I came away somewhat dissatisfied. I think the balance between the mystery and all the subplots was off -- at times, it felt more like a literary love story than a murder mystery. I get that Jecks may have wanted to show how many different ways love and marriage could work themselves out in 1390 England, but the mystery seemed shortchanged. Also, I'm not sure whether Jecks is writing a procedural in which the detective doggedly goes about finding clues and building a case against someone or a Holmesian deduction. Is he just a plodder or a brilliant intuitive? Still, it was as good as most of the medieval mysteries that I enjoy and, so, four stars.

[Gayle (OutsmartYourShelf) · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Ralph of Houndeslow is the new Master of St Lawrence's, the leper hospital at Crediton. He has the daunting task of seeing to the souls of the inmates. Godfrey of London is murdered, his daughter Cecily assaulted, and the crimes are laid at the door of John of Irelaunde, a known womaniser and conman. Meanwhile feelings against Lepers are growing. A few hotheads are prepared to consider killing all of them. Baldwin and Simon must try to prevent a wholesale slaughter."

Sounds great doesn't it? The reality is I'm afraid I got bored halfway through. The Baldwin/Jeanne romance is tiresome and Simon's wife Margaret is annoying with her constantly trying to push them together. Personally, I want more on the crimes and less of their private lives.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sir Balwin Fuarnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace is back at his farm and expecting a visit form his firend Simon Puttock , the baliliff of Lydford and his wife Margaret as well has Jenne de Liddinstone, widow whom he had met earlier and was quit taken with. Meanwhile he is confronted with the murder of a rich goldsmith and the rumored nightly activities of an Irish "trader" of questionable repute as well as growing unrest towards a nearby leper sanctuary run by the church. Lots of intrigue in the medieval west country of England.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was reading Moloka'i last year, I was saddened by the treatment of lepers in the early 19th century. With this book, I was reminded of that feeling because we didn't seem to have made many changes since the 14th century--ignorant intolerance for the outcast, but with the Catholic church's stamp of approval, and yet they provided the only care and hospice situations. Still, the basic mystery was engaging for all 379 pages.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. Sometimes the style of speaking was a bit too modern, but then, it would probably be quite difficult to read English as it was spoken then. I enjoy historical fiction and particularly like stories set in the middle ages or earlier. There were no tests,fingerprints, phones, cars, and such. Justice had to be served through the use of observation and intelligence.
Human relations are what they are no matter the period.