‘The Day of the Serpent’ by Cassandra Clark

Published by ‎Severn House,
26 August 2021.
ISBN: 978-0-72789090-0 (HB)

Following her Abbess of Meaux murder mystery stories, Cassandra Clark is now writing another medieval series, The Broken Kingdom Trilogy, featuring Brother Chandler. The Day of the Serpent is the second novel.

Set in 1400, as Henry IV takes the throne from Richard II, the story starts with the murder of Richard and the journey of the royal cortege from Pontefract to London. During this and later a number of Henry’s men-at-arms are picked off by an unknown bowman (or bowmen). This may be the result of a quarrel, but Henry’s stepbrother, Sir Thomas Swynford, is concerned that it could be the start of a rising against the usurper. He summons Rodric Chandler, a friar in the order of St Serapion, and orders him to find the killer(s) with threats of dire consequences if he fails. Chandler is a reluctant sleuth and spy with his own secrets and divided loyalties. The early passages show his regard for Richard, but he is in the pay of Henry. There is also the complication of his relationship with Mattie, a maid in the household of Geoffrey Chaucer, who also has her secrets as a result of the suspicion the authorities have of her employer’s activities.

As one would expect given Clark’s back catalogue, she is clearly at home in the period and there is a wealth of detail. This makes for a convincing setting of her story. Given that it is set in what was such a fractious period of English history, the novel is in many ways as much a study of the unsettling atmosphere of suspicions, plots and loyalties as it is a tale of murder – and is none the worse for that. Indeed, the killers are unveiled but there remains some doubt about exact details, and we are left in wondering about Chandler’s future and what has happened to Chaucer and his household. All will be revealed, one assumes, in the final novel.

I confess that I have not read the first story in the series (The Hour of the Fox), but I am certainly now keen to do so to find out what I have missed about Brother Chandler and Mattie. I am also eager to read the final novel (The Night of the Wolf) that is out very shortly. Clark’s writing, switching between first and third persons as well as interspersing Chandler’s chronicles, keeps the action galloping along. If medieval mystery is an enthusiasm, you will not be disappointed.
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Reviewer: David Whittle

Cassandra Clark was born in the East Riding of Yorkshire where she grew up in a village near the ancient medieval market town of Beverley. For several years she wrote scripts for the theatre, radio and television as well as contemporary fiction while tutoring at the Open University. She won a Directors' Guild Award for a stage play and ran a lunch-time theatre in a Tudor inn in York.  She is the author of the acclaimed series featuring Abbess Hildegard. There are 13 books in the series. Her most recent series features Brother Chandler. The latest book is The Night of the Wolf, which will be published in June 2023.  Her childhood spent in Yorkshire was her inspiration for the series.

https://www.cassandraclark.co.uk

David Whittle wrote his doctorate on that fascinating character and composer Bruce Montgomery, better known as Edmund Crispin. As David is a musician, he concentrated in the thesis more on his music, but later published (as he had originally intended) his biography which gave, his variety of work equal balance. As someone who has always enjoyed crime writing, David felt he was a very appropriate person to write about!  David was Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School for 32 years and, although classically trained, he is also involved in folk and big band music.