cover image The Grail Murders: Being the Third Journal of Sir Roger Shallot Concerning Certain Wicked...

The Grail Murders: Being the Third Journal of Sir Roger Shallot Concerning Certain Wicked...

Michael Clynes. O. Penzler Books, $21 (244pp) ISBN 978-1-883402-49-5

That Falstaffian rascal, Sir Roger Shallot, thief, liar, coward and friend of Shakespeare, recalls a case in which he and his master, Benjamin Daunbey, solve seven murders during the reign of ``that limb of Satan,'' Henry VIII. Another object of Roger's hatred is devious Cardinal Wolsey, uncle of sobersided Benjamin, who orders the pair to attend the execution of the Duke of Buckingham, accused of treason. Soon Roger and Benjamin are investigating the duke's links to the Knights Templar, the military-religious order that opposes the Tudor line and supposedly has custody of the Holy Grail and King Arthur's sword, Excalibur. Also compelled to witness Buckingham's execution are Sir John Santerre, his wife and their beautiful daughter Rachel, who catches Shallot's roving eye, and Sir Edmund Mandeville, a sinister royal spy. All are caught up in a series of deaths-including the murder of a witch-at the Santerre mansion in Somerset. Roger and Benjamin almost drown before they solve the murder and recover what may be, but probably isn't, the Holy Grail. Clever entertainment from the author of The Poisoned Chalice. (Dec.)