I realised that I haven’t read any mysteries by Candace Robb recently, so I bought one of the Owen Archer mysteries! I’ve previously read The Apothecary Rose, which is the first book in the series, so while The Cross-Legged Knight was a bit of a leap forward (it’s the 8th book in the series), I enjoyed it very much.

The Cross-Legged Knight starts with the arrival of William of Wykeham, the Bishop of Winchester and the former Lord Chancellor of England. He came to return the remains of Sir Ranulf Pagnell and negotiate with his widow over a piece of land. However, his loss of power has affected him and he sees the shadow of the Duke of Lancaster everywhere. So when a fire is started in his townhouse and a murdered woman found in it, he becomes very worried and Captain Owen Archer is called to investigate.

One thing about jumping ahead in a series is that one tends to miss a lot. In this case, I was heartened to see many of the characters that appeared in Book 1, so while I was curious about all that happened between The Apothecary Rose and The Cross-Legged Knight, I wasn’t lost. Instead, it felt like seeing friends after a very long absence and observing the way that they changed.

The characters that stood out to me were Own and his wife Lucie. Owen is a meticulous and clever investigator, and it was a joy to see him slowly work through the case. Lucie is just as capable as Owen and I was really glad to see that he took her seriously and let her help in the investigation. I especially appreciated the way Owen and Lucie responded to a tragedy that happened just before the start of the book. While I don’t have personal experience with their tragedy, I thought the way that they reacted was very realistic (especially Lucie’s fears and how she overcame them), and that it was a testament to the depth of their relationship that Owen was also affected by it. It made the two of them feel very real to me.

As usual, this book was filled with details of medieval York. It was fascinating and made me want to revisit the city! The author’s note was also very illuminating because although I knew about John of Gaunt, I didn’t realise that he was the Duke of Lancaster that William of Wykeham had so much enmity with!

Overall, this is a great medieval mystery that I think would appeal to both fans of mysteries and fans of historical novels! I’m definitely going to go back and read the Owen Archer mysteries from Book 2 onwards.