Traitor's Codex

April 15, 2019
Set in 1394 London, Westerson’s lively 12th mystery featuring Crispin Guest (after 2018’s The Deepest Grave) opens at the Boar’s Tusk, Guest’s favorite tavern, where the former knight and tracer of lost objects and persons has taken refuge at the beginning of the annual plague season. There he’s approached by a mysterious man who thrusts a small rectangular package into his hands, then leaves before Guest can follow him. The package contains a thick leather-bound book, written in an unidentifiable language. The people he approaches in his quest to determine the book’s contents and significance are soon murdered. Finally, he asks Master Pardeu, a rabbi who must keep his faith a secret from the authorities, to translate the text. Pardeu identifies it as the apocryphal gospel of Judas, written in Coptic. Guest comes to realize that its heretical notions could undermine the very foundations of the Christian religion. Powerful forces will do everything they can to stop that from happening. Brisk prose and well-drawn characters propel this nimble excursion into religious thriller territory.

April 1, 2019
Religion and politics prove to be a volatile combination for Crispin Guest. London, 1394. Guest, disgraced knight and clever detective--a man lucky to escape with his life, though not his property or station, when he backed the Duke of Lancaster, in whose home he was raised, to become king over his nephew, the volatile Richard II--has been making ends meet by taking on any case that promises payment. Sitting in his favorite tavern, he's approached by a man who gives him a book and says that he'll know what to do with it. The leather-bound book is obviously very old, but Crispin can't read its language, so he and his longtime apprentice, Jack Tucker, who shares Crispin's small house along with his wife and children, go to a book dealer who tells him it's a papyrus written in Coptic. His next stop is a goldsmith, who suggests he try the barber surgeon Peter Pardeu, a learned rabbi who's stayed hidden in England since the expulsion of the Jews. Pardeu identifies the codex as the gospel of Judas, one of several rejected by the Council of Nicaea. Crispin knows the volume is dangerous but can't bring himself to destroy it. While he's still pondering his options, he literally runs into Lancaster, who takes him to the palace to make sure the queen's death was not murder. Meantime, all the men he's consulted about the book are killed and Crispin himself is attacked several times. When Richard discovers him in the palace, their conversation, a revelation to Crispin, leaves him in greater favor with the king but still a traitor. Back in London, he must escape those who want the codex and deal with an imposter using his name while trying to solve three murders. Fans of this long-running series (The Deepest Grave, 2018, etc.) will revel in the insights into their favorite characters' lives while enjoying the historical background and a challenging mystery.

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May 15, 2019
Disgraced former knight Crispin Guest, aka the Tracker, returns in the eleventh tale in Westerson's medieval noir series. After being stripped of his title and lands, Guest, in an effort to make a living, realizes he has a knack for tracking down the truth and exposing murderers. This time, after receiving a mysterious codex from a stranger in a local pub, he discovers, with the help of a rabbi, that it is the infamous Gospel of Judas. Religion and politics enter the fray as both church officials and royals scramble to get their hands on a document that could challenge the very foundations of Christianity. When murders begin to pile up, Crispin and his loyal sidekick, Jack Tucker, realize that the codex poses a tangible threat to many suspects. Grim, gritty, and utterly enthralling, Westerson's gripping narrative pulls the reader deep into the dark underbelly of the Middle Ages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)