Book Review
Title: The Nightingale Gallery by Paul Doherty (The Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan Book 1)
Genre: Historical, Mystery, Crime
Rating: 3.5 Stars
The first couple of chapters of The Nightingale Gallery had a lot of exposition but it sets up the relationships between characters, the time period we are in and their standings within society. We are in 1376, England where we learn that Edward III is dead as well as his brother and the current king, Richard III. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster is made regent but not king but Richard’s nephew, Richard II of Bordeaux is the heir but he is too young to take the throne. This makes the country a place of turmoil right now but this is made worse when Sir Thomas Springall is murdered as he was a very influential person and often lent money to the crown. Brother Athelstan and Sir John Cranston are sent to investigate and the friendship between them is interesting.
Sir Cranston seems to be an alcoholic while Brother Athelstan is grieving the loss of his brother during the war with the French and his desertion shortly after. Being a friar, Brother Athelstan has taken vows including one of chastity but this doesn’t bode well for him since he seems to be in love with a widow named Benedicta. Brother Athelstan believes there is more to the death of Sir Springall and his servant who supposedly poisoned him because it seems far too neat and there is mention of a group of people doing dangerous things within the city.
At the ¼ mark I was really enjoying the book so far and I was excited to see where the mystery would go especially since this is a long series. It is also here that Sir Cranston and Brother Athelstan begin their investigation by interviewing witnesses and inspecting the bodies. While most of their stories add up something seems really off about the entire murder/suicide theory especially given what had happened earlier in the day. The introduction of the Nightingale gallery means that no one could have gotten in or out of that wing of the house without alerting someone since the floorboards are designed to sing or make a lot of noise. However, Brother Athelstan notices some of the odd relationships between people in the house and the circumstances just don’t add up correctly. At this point I wasn’t sure if each book was going to be a self-contained mystery or if there would be overarching storyline to tie the books together.
The pair are alerted to another death, this time Sir Vechey who has seemingly committed suicide but Brother Athelstan is sure something else is afoot. They also learn of Eudo’s death, from falling or being pushed from a window bringing the number on death from the estate to four. The remaining members of the household explain that Sir Thomas was speaking in riddles months before his death and Vechey was overheard referring to the number 31. Both Athelstan and Sir John are certain the deaths are connected but they don’t know how especially since Athelstan believes that none of the men committed suicide and instead were murdered. This leads to a minor disagreement between Athelstan and Sir John, resulting in the friar returning to his parish for a few days. However, both have them have come to the same realisation that all the deaths were murder not just Sir Thomas’. Athelstan explains that it was murder because the knots are identical, a calling card of a hangman and that several either still wore shoes or had no damage to their feet which is common in hangings.
The halfway mark has confirmed that we are now dealing with three confirmed murders and potentially a fourth in Eudo. There are still many questions that need answers which prompts the pair to take a visit to Newgate Prison in order to see an informant named Solper. Solper knows about The Sons of Dives and explains it was run by Sir Thomas and was connected with the Nightshade House run by Simon Foreman where poisons could be bought for the right price. This little insight into what The Sons of Dives actually is makes it seem like a cult but we will have to wait to see how the story resolves itself. It seems like Sir Thomas’ wife is the one who bought the poison casting suspicion on her and Sir Richard since they have been sleeping together for a while but they deny everything except the adultery. Sir John seems to pin them down but Athelstan interrupts him and throws off his line of questioning resulting in the pair having an argument due to the derailed interrogation. The result is both going their separate ways for a while but they come back together when another murder takes place.
This time it is Master Allingham that has been targeted and Athelstan and Sir John are being pressured for answers. The pair end up taking to Andrew Bulkeley, a craftsman working on Sir Thomas’ home and Athelstan spots some clues in the work. He assumes that Allingham also put this together as did Vechey which is why both of them were murdered. They are summoned by the Chief Justice but Athelstan is quick to remind him that he was the one that set them on this mission and he needs to give them time to solve the mystery which buys them a little more time but answers are being demanded. As they leave it is Sir John that notices that they are being followed and we are finally building to the climax of the novel. In the meeting, they also both received invitations to the royal joust where Sir Thomas’ family is also going to be attending. There Athelstan connected the banners on display to the paintings and carving in Sir Thomas’ home and has a theory. He and Sir John get permission to search the house while everyone is at the joust and that is just what they do.
In the end, by the time we get to the reveal of who the murderer is I was honestly a little bored. Despite only being 300 pages in length I felt we honestly could have lost 50-60 pages in order to move the pace along a little quicker. Overall, I liked the characters, setting and time periods but the mystery itself was a little lack-lustre. I will give the next couple of books a go to see if there is more of overarching mystery or whether each book will be a self-contained mystery. If that is the case I can’t see myself committing to a 10+ book series but if they link together then I definitely will.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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