I enjoyed The Unquiet Bones, the first book in this series, and when I saw this copy of the third book on Better World Books I added it to my cart at once.

This book picks up after the events of A Corpse at St Andrew's Chapel, with the clever yet often naive Hugh hopefully checking in on the attractive daughter of an Oxford book-seller. He thinks she likes him - but when he finds that the handsome son of the new sheriff is also courting her, his mood darkens a bit. But there's a distraction: a friend in the town, a master at Oxford, has had his personal library of 20-odd books stolen! This is a major disaster for him, and a threat to the always-fragile peace of the university (which sounds more like a bear-garden much of the time anyway), so when Hugh's boss, Lord Gilbert, gives him leave to investigate, he does so with a will.

Lord Gilbert also suggests that it's time Hugh found a wife, so he's heartened to continue his courtship of the lovely Kate - but it seems that the sheriff's son won't be put aside by a mere bailiff.

And then a corpse turns up, and much threatening and actual conflict occurs, with Hugh often at risk - and sometimes without any way to help himself, having to wait until his friends and/or his noble patron come to his aid. It's rather sweet to see how promptly Lord Gilbert *does* come to his aid, but the situation is such that Hugh's fate often rests on a knife-edge... Difficult times!

These aren't the most intricate historical mysteries I've read, but I do enjoy the setting and characters - and I wish Hugh well!

I left the book in the Little Free Library on this lovely afternoon, on my way to a Thanksgiving dinner at Plimoth Plantation. Hope the finder enjoys the book!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

*** Released for the 2017 E-less release challenge. ***