Robert Casselberry

In this short book, elderly Sir Cormac tells the young novitiate looking after him about a past adventure. In his younger days, he was sent to Pisa to investigate a sudden death which might have diplomatic repercussions.

I enjoyed the descriptions and historical snippets presented along the way. The plot felt quite straightforward in the sense that Cormac goes to various places picking up clues, and then he puts them all together to identify the culprit. We don't really expect him to fail. The framing device (Cormac telling his adventure to his young visitor some time after the event) allowed for a bit of reflection and idea of later consequences.

Some editing errors (wrong words and punctuation) were a bit distracting, although not enough for me to put the book down.

An enjoyable quick read if you like intrigue in a historical setting. I wonder if there are more adventures to come.… (mer)