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| Plot Summary of A Haunt of Murder |
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" This book is part of a series set during the pilgrimage to Canterbury made famous by Geoffrey Chaucer in the fourteenth century. Doherty has each of the pilgrims tell a story and has covered the Knight, the Franklin, the Priest and the Carpenter: this is the tale of the Clerk of Oxford. The pilgrims think they have lost their way having followed the directions of the Miller, a man with a drinking problem, who is supposed to be taking the travellers to Demonhurst Copse, where they are to spend the night. It is getting dark when they find the copse and it is supposed to be haunted.
The Clerk is elected to tell a story. He tells his companions of Ravenscroft, a castle near Maldon in Essex where several murders have been committed and ghosts of previous occupants are said to exist The protagonist is Ralph, a clerk to Sir John Grasse, constable of the castle, and the latest victim is his betrothed, Beatrice. Beatrice is killed in a fall from the parapet; a serving maid, Phoebe, has had her throat cut and her body found in Devil's Spinney, while a tax collector has been stabbed in a Maldon alley. Ralph is on a mission to find a valuable cross hidden during the Battle of Maldon four hundred years earlier and when there are attempts on his own life he begins to think Beatrice was mistaken for him and the killers are also after the cross.
Some of the narrative also tells us about Beatrice after she was killed. Beatrice chooses not to pass on to the promised afterlife but to try and help Ralph solve her murder. The castle is full of ghosts."
Penny , Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of A Haunt of Murder |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
How difficult to spot villain?
- Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story:
- middle ages
Any non-mystery subplot?
- ghost buddy
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- clerk
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies
How many deaths?
- 5-7
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Paul Doherty Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Alan J. Bishop
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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