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A review by jmatkinson1
Untrue till Death by Graham Brack
4.0
1674 and the French have been driven out of the Netherlands, William of Orange is now Stadhouder but there are still some who would like to see him replaced. When Master Mercurius is sent to Utrecht to sort out the University wages it is as a cover for the Stadhouder who wants him to check on his spies. However when a man wearing Mercuriius' cloak is attacked Mercurius comes into contact with a poor lute player who happens to be more of an assassin and toruturer. After the death of a man at the University of Leiden who was also in the pay of the Stadhouder the race is on to find the traitors.
This is the second book focusing on Master Mercurius and the series is shaping up well. Here the plot is rather political but the side-stories make it more worthwhile. Mercurius is a cleric in the Protestant faith but also a Catholic priest who worships in private. This seems a complex backstory and it is not fully explained but it does act as a device both for comedic purposes (not eating meat on Fridays) and also for moral reasons (a slight diversion in terms of romance). I really like the setting in 17th Century Netherlands as it allows insights into a lesser known history. All in all a solid piece of historical detective writing.
This is the second book focusing on Master Mercurius and the series is shaping up well. Here the plot is rather political but the side-stories make it more worthwhile. Mercurius is a cleric in the Protestant faith but also a Catholic priest who worships in private. This seems a complex backstory and it is not fully explained but it does act as a device both for comedic purposes (not eating meat on Fridays) and also for moral reasons (a slight diversion in terms of romance). I really like the setting in 17th Century Netherlands as it allows insights into a lesser known history. All in all a solid piece of historical detective writing.