The Witch Hunter's Tale: A Midwife Mystery (The Midwife's Tale)

I've finished "The Witch Hunter's Tale" the 3rd book in his Midwife Tale series by Sam Thomas.

Product Description

Winter has come to the city of York, and with it the threat of witchcraft. As women and children sicken and die, midwife Bridget Hodgson is pulled against her will into a full-scale witch-hunt that threatens to devour all in its path, guilty and innocent alike. Bridget — accompanied once again by her deputy Martha Hawkins and her nephew Will Hodgson — finds herself playing a lethal game of cat and mouse against the most dangerous men in York, as well as her sworn enemy Rebecca Hooke. As the trials begin, and the noose begins to tighten around her neck, Bridget must answer the question: How far will she go to protect the people she loves?

About the Author

SAM THOMAS teaches history at University School near Cleveland, Ohio. He has received research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Neweberry Library, and the British Academy. He has published academic articles on topics ranging from early modern Britain to colonial Africa. Thomas lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio, with his wife and two children.

Product Details
Series: The Midwife's Tale (Book 3)
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books (January 6, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250045754
ISBN-13: 978-1250045751

My Review:

3/5

The Harlot's Tale: A Midwife Mystery (The Midwife's Tale)

I've finished "The Harlot's Tale" the 2nd book in his Midwife's Tale series by Sam Thomas.

It is August, 1645, one year since York fell into Puritan hands. As the city suffers through a brutal summer heat, Bridget Hodgson and Martha Hawkins are drawn into a murder investigation more frightening than their last. In order to appease God’s wrath — and end the heat-wave — the city’s overlords have launched a brutal campaign to whip the city’s sinners into godliness. But for someone in York, this is not enough. First a prostitute and her client are found stabbed to death, then a pair of adulterers are beaten and strangled. York’s sinners have been targeted for execution.

Bridget and Martha — assisted once again by Will, Bridget’s good-hearted nephew — race to find the killer even as he adds more bodies to his tally. The list of suspects is long: Hezekiah Ward, a fire and brimstone preacher new to York; Ward’s son, Praise-God, whose intensity mirrors his father’s; John Stubb, one of Ward’s fanatic followers, whose taste for blood may not have been sated by his time in Parliament’s armies. Or could the killer be closer to home? Will’s brother Joseph is no stranger to death, and he shares the Wards’ dreams of driving sin from the city.

To find the killer, Bridget, Martha, and Will must uncover the city’s most secret sins, and hope against hope that the killer does not turn his attention in their direction, in The Harlot's Tale by Sam Thomas.

Product Details
Series: The Midwife's Tale (Book 2)
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books; Reprint edition (December 16, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 125005544X
ISBN-13: 978-1250055446

My Review:

3.5/5

The Midwife's Tale: A Mystery Paperback

I've finished "The Midwife's Tale" by Samuel Thomas.

In the tradition of Arianna Franklin and C. J. Sansom comes Samuel Thomas’s remarkable debut, The Midwife’s Tale

It is 1644, and Parliament’s armies have risen against the King and laid siege to the city of York. Even as the city suffers at the rebels’ hands, midwife Bridget Hodgson becomes embroiled in a different sort of rebellion. One of Bridget’s friends, Esther Cooper, has been convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to be burnt alive. Convinced that her friend is innocent, Bridget sets out to find the real killer.

Bridget joins forces with Martha Hawkins, a servant who’s far more skilled with a knife than any respectable woman ought to be. To save Esther from the stake, they must dodge rebel artillery, confront a murderous figure from Martha’s past, and capture a brutal killer who will stop at nothing to cover his tracks. The investigation takes Bridget and Martha from the homes of the city’s most powerful families to the alleyways of its poorest neighborhoods. As they delve into the life of Esther’s murdered husband, they discover that his ostentatious Puritanism hid a deeply sinister secret life, and that far too often tyranny and treason go hand in hand.

Biography

Sam Thomas teaches history at University School, an independent K-12 school outside Cleveland, Ohio. He has received research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Newberry Library, and the British Academy, and published on topics ranging from early modern midwifery to girls' education in colonial Kenya. He lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio with his wife and two sons.

Product Details
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books; Reprint edition (December 10, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250038340
ISBN-13: 978-1250038340

My Review:

Bridget Hodgson is a midwife in 1644 when the Parliament’s armies have rebelled against the King and lay siege of York. When one of Bridget's friend Esther Cooper is accused of killing her husband and sentenced to burn at the stake she joins forces with her servant Martha.

Martha is quite skilled with the knife then most woman are especially around that time. To prove that Esther is innocent they have to avoid the rebels, must face a dangerous man from Martha's past and to capture a deadly killer in their midst.

I thought the author caught the sights, smells and the layout perfectly according to that time with great detail.

3/5

Thanks St. Martin's Press for sending me this book to review, greatly appreciated!