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Rating: 
Summary: Needed a better editor
Review:
I have mixed feelings about this book. It has tremendous promise, with two interesting (though not yet fully developed) characters and the relationship between them to form the core of the stories. But the book read like a first draft. It needed editing, polishing and paring down to bring the story to life.
For instance, as many others have mentioned, Jecks tends to use the same phrases, words and sentence constructs repeatedly. The most noticeable (and annoying) of these was his constant use of the phrase "as if"(as in: "...it seemed as if the whole city was there..." or "it seemed as if the people of Paris know ..." I'll wager he's used that term a thousand times through the book. This is no exaggeration - he used it 11 times in the first two pages! Sometimes, he uses it twice in a single sentence.
Jecks also doesn't seem to understand the need to establish a consistent point of view. Although he normally uses the third person point of view (Simon), he lapses occasionally into the omniscient POV, letting us in on the thoughts of various characters. This would be fine, but you can't be selective in that point of view - if we are to be privy to a character's thoughts at all, we should have access to them always. You can't, on one page, tell the reader what a certain character is thinking, then hide that characters' thoughts from the readers at a more critical point of the story.
The book also suffers from the common "sit down and I'll tell you the whole thing" ending, where all the motivation, etc., is summarized in a long (VERY long) explanation at the end.
Then, there is the problem of typos in the text (like "trail" for "trial.") Not a major flaw (I'd hate to be judged on MY typos!) but another indication that the book was not thoroughly edited.
Finally (and the following may be considered a SPOILER, so be careful), I am not sure I can consider one of the main characters a "hero" after reading the ending and knowing what he did. I don't care about the motives. Knowing this person was so cold blooded as to kill the way he did will make it difficult for me to accept him as one of the main protagonists in future novels.
I already have two more in the series in my library and I may very well read them someday. But unlike many of the other historical mysteries in my collection, I doubt if I'll be in a big rush to get to them.
By the way, if you like historical mysteries in the Cadfael mold, give the books by Kate Sedley a try. They're a bit hard to come by, but they are excellent and have one of the most likeable protagonists I've come across yet. They are among my favorite books in the genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Good entertainment value with a history lesson!
Review: I really liked this book. The author tells the tale of the fall of the Templars and incorporates this history into a very entertaining mystery. The characters are vividly described and the crime scenes are equally vivid - a book trait I find necessary in order to become totally absorbed into the storyline. It's a fast read, but not due to a simple story plot. I must admit, I had one of the crimes figured out before the end, but the rest left me guessing with plenty of twists and turns before the final outcome. As a first in a series, this book has done what it should - made me want to read more.
Rating:
Summary: Not Very Good
Review: I was really looking forward to this book. I love historical novels. But this one was not very good. The writing was very ordinary. The descriptions were poor. I felt that I could have written this book! The author has an obvious knowledge of the times but it was not enough to save this book.The main characters were not interesting; the pace was slow and tedious. The WHY? WHY? WHY? got on my nerves after a while. The vocabulary was rehashed over and over. The same words and expressions coming back. By the end, I was reading one out of three paragraphs, trying to get to something... I got nowhere.
Rating: 
Summary: I'll Reserve Judgement on this Series
Review: If you read this book expecting Ellis Peters or even Susanna Gregory, you will be disappointed. The story does not measure up to these. But if you read the story wanting to read an entertaining mystery with some interesting characters, you will enjoy the book. I found the writing and the history in this book were somehow lacking, but as I said I will try another in the series before I pass judgement. I like Simon and I like Sir Baldwin, but they talk like modern people. The sense of time and place is not here. The book doesn't take you back like it should. So, I will forego a little authenticity for now, and will see if this improves in subsequent books. In the meantime I just enjoyed the story.
Rating:
Summary: Good medieval mystery
Review: Michael Jecks is off to a good start. Sir Baldwin is both knight and monk - the best realized of these characters - although where did he receive release from his vows that make it now possible for him to see marriage in his future? Sir Rodney ("my sword is my right") is probably more typical 14th century knight. Simon the Bailiff has lovely 19th-century relationship with his wife, child and priest. I am looking forward to the next in the series - and seeing this author develop his skill and historical depth. Good work, but not yet in the league with Dunnett or Ellis or Margaret Fraser or Sharan Newman.
Rating: 
Summary: He should have stayed in the computer industry
Review: Since I am very interested in England in the MA and was looking for another Mytery series set at that time and location, I bought the first three books out of the Medieval Westcountry series. Boy, was I disappointed! One of the characters in this book, John Black, is "obviously impatient with the long story" (p. 254)...so was I. After fortunately finishing this book yesterday I keep wondering how s/o can waste so much paper and so much of readers' time without really telling anything of substance whatsoever! The book started out good, but got more and more unintriguing and meaningless by the page. The main characters dawdle around to solve two murders that have happened and Simon Puttock, the protagonist, keeps asking himself WHY the murders have happened without really getting anywhere. Mr. Jecks seems to have a fondness for certain words, which he uses over and over, hence giving the impression his vocabluary is not very extensive. I should have paid more attention to the other reviews before buying the first three books out of this series. It would have saved me a lot of money and precious time I could have spend reading far better medieval mysteries. I live in hope that the next two books in this series, which are lurking in my bookcase, are A LOT better than this one.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but at times dull
Review: This is a relatively sound debut novel, certainly in terms of the characters involved. They are well developed, full, realistic and likeable. Also, the writing style is good and easy to read, but too much exposure to it makes me find it ever so slightly dull, but that might just be due to the plot, which i didn't find to be very interesting. It all seems rather repetative. A murder, then another murder, then some treking off into the forest, more murder, more treking, more treking... It's not very original or inspiring, it's dull at times, and isn't interesting enough to compell you to read on and find the solution. However, you should. It is at the last fifty pages where the book picks up and improved quite a bit. Each solution provided is unexpected and well delivered, and they add well-needed complexity to the plot, which wasn't there before. Overall, this book is a bit drawn out for it's content, although the style and characters are enjoyable, and the plot is dull at times, but enjoyable at others. As a start to a supposedly very good series, it's not all the good, but it's necessary to read it so that you understand the back-story. My advice is probably to buy it, but skim it. That way, it'll probably seem very enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved it
Review: Well, I read a lot of these books, not so much for the mystery but for that feeling that I am there in history. This book gives me that feeling. BK
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