The Nicholas Feast

The reason I came down one star on this second book in the Gil Cunningham series is simply because there were so many characters to try to keep track of. This murder takes place within the confines of the University of Glasgow. There are 33 characters in the list provided by the author and those names do not include anyone outside the University or within the families and servants Gil is dealing with. One of the students has been murdered. Hugh, Lord Montgomery has decided to claim the dead boy as one of his kin and has given the University until the young man is buried to find the killer or he will begin torturing anyone associated with the University he can get his hands on until someone confesses. This story takes place only a very short while after the conclusion of the first book, Harper\’s Quine: A Gil Cunningham Murder Mystery , so if you have read that book you will find yourself right back in the same location with the same people to deal with. In the first novel I enjoyed the way the author had Gil confer with Alys and her father over the entire mystery so we all solved it together. That is how this novel is constructed also, but everything is done at breakneck speed because of the deadline on finding the murderer or Montgomery will force someone, anyone, to confess and then dispatch them. I found myself hopelessly twisted up over who was with whom doing what at what time so that I honestly ceased to care. I figured I could catch most of the obvious clues without trying to keep track of everyone and that proved to be true. The atmosphere of scholastic life in medieval Glasgow was extremely interesting for me. This author does have a tendency to include sentences in French and what I call old Scots without necessarily giving a translation. Often I can figure out the meaning on my own, often I could not. This series of novels does give my brain a pretty good workout. Not only in solving the mystery, but in looking up words which I don\’t understand and trying to decipher foreign (to me) phrases and sentences. If you don\’t want to work quite that hard when reading, you might not find these books to be entertaining. Personally, except for the over-abundance of characters, I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

As a mystery lover and historian I enjoy discovering books like the Gil Cunningham murder series. The Nicholas Feast was the second in the series that I read (I\’m on my third right now) and found it to be clever and entertaining. McIntosh has vividly recreated a very different world, one in which it mattered very much who your family was and to whom they gave allegiance. She also gives us on the ground looks at the church and the importance it played in people\’s lives in late 15th century Scotland. In this book Gil Cunningham, formerly destined for the church but now engaged to Alys Mason, investigates the murder of a young and generally unpopular student at Gil\’s former school. Suspects range from fellow students to a noble and relative of the murdered boy and include a priest as well. Gil, along with his fiance and his future father-in-law Pierre, sort through the clues, motives, and complex family ties to finally reveal the murderer. In this book we also get to meet Gil\’s mother and get more details into family life in this period. Yes, as another reviewer noted, there are quite a few unfamiliar words in the book. Some are included in the Kindle dictionary, some are not. For many of them the author uses the common term in the following sentence or two, helping us understand. Others can be figured out from context. For me the language of the 15th century Scots was fascinating and added, not detracted, from the reading of this book. If you like historical mysteries, check out this series.

As I have never been one much to write, I generally review other opinions about a subject, in this case, The Nicholas Feast (Gil Cunningham Murder Mystery) . I will agree to some extend with the reviewer commenting on too many characters in the story. Pat McIntosh may have lessened the number but then remember, we are on a campus of education during term. Valid point but for me it did not negate the continuity between the first novel in the series, The Harper\’s Quine (Gil Cunningham Murder Mystery) and this second novel. The sub plots of family, clan struggles and impending marriage for the main characters certainly kept my attention. I gave it only a 4 star rating not because of the extras within the story but because I had some troubles in remembering who and how they were related to the respective topic. As before I would recommend this E-book for those into historical fiction. For anyone who might care, I am currently reading the third novel, The Merchant\’s Mark (Gil Cunningham) .

A fine series that does not disappoint as Gil and his love, Alys work together to find a murderer. The setting in Scotland, that dialect and character development are well done. Read the series progressively from The Harper\’s Quine on and the relationships between the characters are fun. Pierre Mason, Gil\’s good-father is a surprise as he is an intellectual expatriate from France with great critical thinking skills. I have sincerely enjoyed the series and will eventually purchase all of the volumes on my Kindle.

\”The Nicholas Feast\” a Gil Cunningham Murder Mystery (purchased through Amazon.com) introduced me to believable Middle Age Glasgow\’s customs, mores and everyday routines; along with a riveting tale of murder most foul. The story of how Gil Cunningham solves the mystery is so skillfully woven the reader is with him step-by-step in a richly detailed setting. The characters and relationships are well developed; and, the conclusion both interesting and satisfactory, leaving one wishing for a more prolonged visit enjoying the clever quotes of \”Maister\” Cunningham and his friends.

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