Men of Subtle Craft

Stated first U.S. edition. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Dust soiling to the edges of the book's upper page block. Rubs to the dust jacket's spine tips and corners.

Fans of Arnold Landon (A Trout in the Milk), mild-mannered Northumberland bureaucrat, will relish this polite, nicely old-fashioned mystery. Amateur medievalist Landon is asked to help a military historian at Newcastle University in tracing a 12th century master builder. A ruined castle, which may hold crucial clues, lies on the estate of Yates, a much-disliked landlord whose tenants want to stop him from "improving" the estate at their expense. The first two-thirds of the book reveal, to us and to Landon, just how surrounded by enemies Yates isand deservedly so. A young poacher and would-be tenant, a rude, irascible military historian, a solitary, brooding farmer, a putative heir to the estate, the "heir's" strong-willed lady-love, and Yates's housekeeper/mistress all have reason to wish the landlord ill. Landon finds Yates with a medieval crossbow bolt in his chest, and it devolves upon our self-effacing hero to find the villain. Justice is done, but not until Landon must sort through various unruly passions: "People gave him problems of emotional upset." A leisurely, fine-textured treat.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.