The Killing Way: An Arthurian Mystery -- Tony Hays

I'm feeling a teensy bit paranormalled out, so I've decided to add more grown-up mysteries to my reading diet.

When a young woman is brutally murdered and left at Merlin's door, Arthur is put in a delicate situation.  Despite the evidence, he knows (or is 99.47% sure) that Merlin is innocent.  But if he doesn't investigate that angle of the mystery fully, he will lose the trust of the people as well as his reputation for honesty -- which would be disaster, as the murder just so happens to have coincided with a gathering of all Britain's leaders to elect a new Rigotamos.

So he goes to Malgwyn.  Who hates him.  Now, Malgwyn hadn't always hated Arthur.  Once, he was even in his inner circle.  They fought the Saxons together, rode together, were friends.  But then Malgwyn lost his sword arm in battle, and rather than let him die, Arthur saved his life.  Malgwyn has never forgiven him.  Better to die on the battlefield than live as half a man.

Despite his hatred of Arthur, Malgwyn is intrigued by the mystery behind the crime -- and soon finds himself involved in a tangle of politics, religion, family, love triangles, betrayal and, of course, murder.

I had mixed feelings about The Killing Way.  On the one hand, I especially enjoyed the historical part of it -- I felt that the author did a great job of writing about the time, of introducing me to an era* I know very little about without ever letting the prose feel like he was trying to jam facts in there.  It flowed.  I felt transported.  And I liked Tony Hays' take on Arthur & Co., a vision of a man rather than a Legend.

My frustrations lay with the voice.  Malgywn had a problem with repetition.  (Or, to be more fair, I had a problem with Malgywn's tendancy towards repetition.)  He told me things again and again and again -- about his hatred for Arthur, his hatred of the Saxons, his status as half-a-man, his love of his dead wife, etc.  Towards the middle of the book, I started talking back to him:  "Malgywn, I KNOW."  "Malgywn, YES."  "Malgywn, MOVE ON."  I don't have an issue with the hard-drinking-with-a-painful-past archetype, but I also don't need the character to constantly be reminding me about WHY he is the way he is.

My other major issue was more of a personal taste thing -- lines like:

"Go to your homes!" Arthur commanded, his shoulder-length hair flying in the breeze.

were not few and far between.  Which isn't so much my thing.  But because of the things I liked about the book, I'm going to keep an eye out for the next one.

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*410-600 CE.  Ish.