The Merchant's Tale: An atmospheric historical crime adventure (Oxford Medieval Mysteries Book 4)

I have enjoyed this and the other related books in the series because they offer an insight into the day to day lifes of quite everyday people, including mostly those of the yeoman and lower classes with some glimpses of the lives of the great and mighty they interact with but largely they are about the common people and have the added nuance of an amateur sleuth who is not a physician or cleric but a bookseller and repectable family man. Some sleuths in other historical novels are almost as unsavoury as the villains while others come across as very modern minded men and women somehow unaturally sewn loosely into the fabric of a time they don't seem to belong in. This is not so with either Swinfen's sleuth, in fact even minor characters seem real and of the 14th century. Lovely tales worthy of reading in comfort with a hot drink and a slice of cake.

Another great tale from the medieval times by Ann Swinfen. I so enjoy these and they appear very real, as if you were there. Perhaps I am a fan of Oxford, it's very atmospheric and it is so nice to have roads and places one now knows mentioned in these tales. This is the fourth tale with the same main character and his family, but you won't be prevented from enjoying this one if you have not read the previous three. I think you'll want to read the earlier ones once you read this one. I was delighted to find this fourth tale (I am a recent 'convert' to Swinfen's historical drama/thrillers after sampling the first three of the Elizabethan ones. I'll be reading more of her - entertaining stuff!

A very nice series, very engaging. It brings to mind the Cadfael series, by Ellis Peters.In this series by Ann Swinfen, the main character is a bookseller from Oxford, Nicholas Elyot. The stories happen in less high echelons of England's medieval society than in the Cadfael series. But we still have glimpses of nobles and abbots, as pointed out by another reviewer here.What I liked best is the same feeling of accompanying the day to day life in medieval times, and learning about how people interacted and how their material needs were met.I'm crossing my fingers that the author will keep writing this series!I'm posting this same review in all the four already published books of this series, for I liked them all, and would like to signal it to potential readers.

As in book 3 it takes too long to get started and the plot is so obvious that it can be solved by the reader about halfway thro the bookTo be frank this looks like a money spinner set of short stories with loads of background day to day stuff but very little mystery and a non existent love lifeThe 13/14 centuary background can lifted from many sources so is not some special gift of this writer it's just padding out of a rather poor short story

Another most enjoyable tale with enough historical background to be interesting without becoming wearing. Excellent and credible characters woven into a fascinating story. A really splendid series.

As always a good story with great detail of life in the 1300s.I always look forward to reading these books and I shall be very sorry when I come to the end of the series!

Not quite finished reading yet, but enjoy her style and eye for historic details . No doubt will acquire the remainder of this series.

Following the series of these mysteries. Enjoy the characters and the insight of life in medieval England. Well written but easy to read

This is such a good series. It's well written and interesting and not just all about the crime. There is always a murder but there is so much more; especially enjoy reading about Oxford (which I know) as it was back then. Reading about the medieval fair as it was then was another little cameo of interest as there always are in the books the author writes about. Nicolas, his family and friends are all good characters, some are very interesting. As another reader wrote, Nicolas is at times a bit too good to be true but the plot is good though not overly surprising and I like the historical content and find the stories a pleasure and interesting to read I gave it 4 stars.

A delightful romp through the middle-middle ages, a great whodunnit, story nice and tight, plot quick, characters and dialogue real. I read one, then bought the rest of the series and binge-read. Hope Ann intends to grace her readers with more of this ilk. Brava!

Loved the characters and the historical period setting. Learning and reading going hand and hand!

Das Buch ist gut geschrieben und spannend; Zeit und Lokalkolorit werden gut wiedergegeben. Die Personen sind sympathisch. Insgesamt gut zu lesen.

A mystery always seems to disturb Nicholas’ life in Oxford. And we see more features of old england