A Master of the Medieval Murder Mystery: Michael Jecks and His “Knights Templar” Novels

British writer Michael Jecks has been dubbed the master of the medieval murder mystery. His Knights Templar mystery series is thirty-one books strong and growing. These books feature Sir Baldwin Furnshill, a former Knight Templar,and his partner in crime fighting, Simon Puttock, the Bailiff of Lydford Castle. Jecks also founded Medieval Murderers, a group of writers who focus on historicals and historical mysteries. Jecks, along with fellow members CJ Sansom, Bernard Knight, Susanna Gregory, Philip Gooden, Ian Morson, and Karen Maitland, are available for speaking events, and have also coauthored six medieval mysteries.

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Gotta Go

The uncles are all dead. They were a hearty lot, the Paulsons. Lived into their nineties most of them, as did their sister, my mom. The last of them died recently and it got me thinking about my favorite, Uncle Harry, who passed on several years ago.

I lost my own dad when I was five. I probably know him best from family stories; sometimes I don’t know if my memories are of the stories told about him or are actually memories of him. My favorite story/memory is of us both sick, me in one bedroom and him across the hallway in another. My mom set up a series of mirrors opposite our beds reflecting off a common mirror in the hallway so that we could look at one another. My dad had these wonderful big ears. I remember him waving at me one morning, his ears seeming to hover around his head like a lopsided halo.

He died the next day.

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