I noticed in some other reviews that people were put off by the language, '. It's not as simple as exposing and arresting a Templar. It is all very clean, nothing sexual or overtly violent.īascot is actually bound by certain conventions that will inhibit his handling of discoveries if the perpetrator is a member of the Order. The reader is drawn fully into the medieval theme, clued into the formalities and traditions of the time and place. The author is masterful in her handling of the vernacular. This, however, proves difficult when the body of a woman is discovered in the Templar's Lincoln enclave.īecause of Bascot's familiarity with the local sheriff, Roget, and reputation as an investigator, the Preceptor, Everard d'Arderon, asks Bascot to assist the sheriff in solving the mystery to help protect the honor of the Order. He has lost the use of his right eye and walks with a limp but still hopes to return to the Outremer and rejoin the fight. The talented sleuth in these tales is Bascot de Marins, a thirty-something Templar who was injured during an eight-year captivity in the Holy Land. 'Shroud of Dishonour' is book five in the series.

Soon she is dead.Īuthor Maureen Ash has written what appears to be nine stand-alone books in her 'Templar Mystery' series. A year later, in the city of Lincoln, England, a secretive figure, with the promise of ten shillings, convinces a prostitute to secretly enter a Templar enclave as part of a harmless wager. In 1201, a Templar goes into a brothel in Acre and accidentally kills a man.

Shroud of Dishonour by Maureen Ash