The Owls of Gloucester: Volume V of the Domesday Books

Stock characters and labored prose dampen the otherwise solid historical The Owls of Gloucester, the 10th in Edward Marston's Domesday series to feature 11th-century royal commissioners Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret, who here investigate the murder of Brother Nicholas, rent collector for the Abbey of St. Peter. Still, old pro Marston provides a surprising plot twist or two, involving more than a few suspicious characters, a mysterious bag of gold and some skullduggery.