BOOK CLUB: The Worsener’s Tale

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The Worsener’s Tale by Robert Edeson is a murder, mystery thriller linking a crime of the present to one from 600 years prior.

Emily Misgivingston’s parents live in Steeple Rising, near Canterbury. Her father Philip is run off the road and injured. The same night, his best friend William died suspiciously in the Bell Tower of St Eke’s Church.

Emily’s partner, Richard Worse, is an Intelligence Analyst. The couple travel to visit her parents, where Richard is given Visitor’s Officer rank and joins the team investigating William’s murder.

William, a trained historian, with Philip’s assistance, had been researching local history. The focus was on Stepel Malison, The Steeple Curse, and the deaths of famous pilgrims in 1369. Did they accidentally get too close to exposing a secret that someone wishes to remain hidden?

Philip shares his research that one of Richard’s own ancestors, Geoffrey Magnacart was murdered in the steeple in 1369. As Richard cleverly links the similarities between the  murders past and present and as he closes in on the truth, he has put himself and Emily’s family in danger.

It is quite a thrilling read with no shortage of suspects and possibilities to keep you guessing who the killer is. The aspect of English village life and the historical touches to the story add to the appeal.

Richard Worse is a complex but likeable character and Emily and her family are very relatable.

This is the third book in the Richard Worse Series and it can definitely be read as a standalone book. I enjoyed the read and will be hunting out the previous two.

A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading The Worsener’s Tale by Robert Edeson. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.

4 thoughts on “BOOK CLUB: The Worsener’s Tale

  1. The Worsener’s Tale is an enigmatic mystery that both enthralled and confused me.

    I really enjoyed the way the clever style of writing and use of words added even more to the mystery being told. However, I did find i had to refer to a dictionary on many occasions to understand quite what was going on.

    Due to the incredible detail contained within the story, I did find myself lost on occasion and the notations included at the end of each chapter only added further confusion (which on further thought may have been their intention).

    This was a very clever, and mostly enjoyable read, and I would happily read more by this interesting author.

  2. The Worsner’s Tale by Robert Edison is a thrilling mystery with lots of twists and turns. Despite its slow start and some confusing language from bygone eras I quite enjoyed this book.

    In 1369 there is a mysterious death of a pilgrim in the church in what is now Steeple. Resting. In the present day there is a mysterious death in the same church with striking similarities to the 1369 death.

    Richard Worsener sets about investigating the present day murder that seems to have endless suspects and plenty of twists to keep you guessing.

    If you like a good murder mystery with some history thrown in you will very much enjoy this book. It is book three in the series (although is a great stand alone read), so if you are looking for a new series this would be a worthy contender.

    Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Fremantle Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

  3. The Woremers Tale was a story that I found to be totally different from anything else I have read. I loved the mystery over the murder but struggled to understand the exact reasoning as to why people in this modern day would still be carrying grudges from the 1300s. And I really couldnt pick up the clues that were referred to when linking back to old wiritings from the 1300s either. I wish I was that smart that it all would have clicked for me but it wasnt to be. Other then that I enjoyed the story.
    This is part of a series but it seemed to be ok as a stand alone and I dont feel that reading the previous books would have helped with my understanding.

  4. There is undoubtedly an audience for this novel, but sadly I’m not it. It failed to connect with me on any level at all. I found the writing style pompous, the characters far too pleased with their own cleverness, the copious footnotes boring and annoying, and the plot uninteresting.

    Richard Worse accompanies his partner, Emily Misgivingston, from Australia to Kent. Her father has suffered an accident that may well have been a murder attempt, and one of his friends has quite definitely been murdered. Worse wants to investigate.

    Worse’s investigation is complicated by the fact that the roots of the crime seem to lie in 1369. And as he attempts to investigate both the ancient and modern murders, it begins to seem that his own family may be involved.

    I am so sorry that I didn’t enjoy this, because plot wise it seems that I should. Unfortunately this is just one of those novels that I couldn’t engage with at all.

    People who have a greater interest than I do in medieval history and research may well find this novel of more interest. There’s a lot of technical detail about the researches undertaken, and a lot of information about medieval events and history. Although I’m generally interested in history, I just found this was presented in a way that bored me. However, it’s pretty consistent with the way scholars talk about this period, so it’s likely to be more engaging for readers with a deeper interest.

    Similarly, I found the footnotes annoying. I rather think that footnotes should be used very sparingly in fiction (although there are certainly writers who’ve done this to good effect, it’s nearly always humorously). In this case they were not only frequent but long – sometimes pages long – and very very technical. I started skipping them before too long.

    This is a somewhat old fashioned style of writing, and no doubt there are readers who aren’t bothered by that. I found it pompous, made all the worse by the fact that so many characters seemed enamoured of their own cleverness. Readers who love wordplay may agree, but again, that’s not a particular interest of mine.

    I hated this novel, and it was a slog to finish it. I hesitate to recommend it because of that. However, I can see that there are readers who would enjoy it more than I did, and I hope it finds that audience.

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