The Holy Innocents book is a mystery novel that has been out for years. Author Kate Sedley wrote the book in 1996 as part of her Roger the Chapman series, which eventually stretched to sixteen books. The Holy Innocents is book four in the series, but stands alone well enough. The setting is England during the 1400s.

For my readers who aren’t familiar with the term, Roger is a chapman, a guy who travels the English landscape selling small, portable items in towns to make money and support himself. In previous books he was married, but that’s already over with by book four and doesn’t play too great a role in the story.

The Holy Innocents Book Plot Basics

The holy innocents are two murdered children who met their deaths in the town of Totnes. The obvious culprits are a fiendish gang of bandits who roam the forest and nearby countryside. However, the problem is that no one ever saw the two children leave their house, yet townspeople located their bodies weeks later by the river. Therefore, this being fifteenth century England, witchcraft is also a possibility in the eyes of the locals.

Roger meets Grizelda Harbourne, former housemaid who had watched over the children. She’d been in charge of the youths right until her dismissal the day the children disappeared. Grizelda wants to know what happened to her former charges, naturally.

Everyone agrees that Eudo Collet is the most likely suspect. He’s the stepfather of the children and will inherit their family’s considerable wealth if they die, since every other family member is deceased already. (The mother of the children died in childbirth.) But, his alibi is rock solid, and the law has already cleared him. Thus, it must be the outlaws.

All the same, Roger takes up the investigation, hoping to find something that others failed to see. Roger is also, maybe, in love with Grizelda.

The Holy Innocents Book Parts I Liked

The book was subtle. The clues allowing Roger and the reader to solve the murder mystery are there, but mentioned so nonchalantly that they’re easy to miss. Likewise, Roger’s moves make sense. He’s not the detective who miraculously solves everything at the end, dazzling with his brilliance. Roger makes a few mistakes along the way and takes some wrong turns. But, he continues looking for solutions. Dogged, rather than spectacular, is the word to describe him.

Another thing I appreciated about The Holy Innocents book is that, at least for 1996 when it came out, Sedley paid substantial attention to showing readers how regular people lived. I don’t know if she got everything about the material culture of a 1400s English town correct. That’s not my specialty. But it was believable, and extra impressive given the greater difficulty of doing research on such things in the early 1990s.

Finally, the ending was rather good. It wasn’t what I expected in a few different ways, but it proved satisfying. The more I thought about it, the more satisfied I was.

Oh, and while I’m discussing good things, I thought the cover was great. The design was like a stained-glass window, with different panels showing scenes from the book. Quite clever.

Parts I Liked Less

Well, to be honest, nothing stands out as a glaring weakness. Given that the book was part of a series, and I hadn’t read prior books, the story was quite solid. The investigation does move a little slowly at times. The chapters sometimes stop and start in unusual places. But, if those are the worst things I can think of, well, those are rather minor.

I wouldn’t write that the story grabbed hold of me with it’s brilliance, or that I turned page after page all in one night. But I looked forward to reading a few chapters every evening, and I didn’t have to force myself to keep going just to finish.

If I had to pick one thing to tell the author to do better, it’d be to give us more about Roger’s internal thoughts at times. I wouldn’t say this was a weakness, but neither was it a strength.

Closing Thoughts

So, the book was a solid story. Not spectacular, but very solid. If it were a basketball player, it wouldn’t be the high-flying guy who dazzles the crowd with slam dunks. Instead, it’d be the guy who fills up the box score by being pretty good at everything.

If you like stories set in the Middle Ages, chances are good this one will appeal to you—especially if you don’t care about kings, queens, and such. This story features no one of higher rank that the sheriff. If you like mysteries, too, then your odds of enjoying the book are better still.

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