The Tainted Coin by Mel Star

It is the autumn of 1367. Master Hugh is enjoying the peaceful life of Bampton when a badly beaten man is found under the porch of St. Andrew's Chapel. The dying man is a chapman-—a traveling merchant. Before he is buried in the chapel grounds, an ancient, corroded coin is found in the man's mouth. 

 Master Hugh's quest for the chapman's assailants, and his search for the origin of the coin, begins to make progress--but there are men of wealth and power in league with his old nemesis, Sir Simon Trillowe, who wish to end his search . . . permanently. 

 But Master Hugh, and his assistant, the groom Arthur, are determined to uncover the thieves and murderers, and the source of the chapman's coin. They do, but not before they become involved with a kidnapped maiden, a tyrannical abbot, and a suffering monk—who needs Master Hugh's surgical skills and in return provides clues that assist Hugh in solving the mystery of the tainted coin.

My review:

   This is the fifth book in the series, Chronicles of Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon. I have enjoyed each book in the series, and it seems each book is better than the previous. This one is definitely the best so far. There seemed to be even more action and suspense than in the previous books.

   I read a lot of suspense books, as it is my favorite genre', and they all use the modern ways of solving crimes and modern crime scene investigative methods. This book, and the others in the series, are set in the 1300's, and comparing it with books set in modern day has made me admire Starr for his writing. In my opinion, it must be challenging to write suspense set in a time period that he writes in, and have his main character solve crimes and also doctor people with what they had available at that time.

  This book had Hugh travel a little more than the others, and also had him in some dangerous spots, but he still managed to come through it all on top. This was a great story, and I hated to see t the end of it come. I did read it in one sitting, and enjoyed every minute of it. I was glad to see there is at least one more book coming in this series.

About the author:

:Mel Starr was born and grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He graduated from Spring Arbor High School in 1960, and Greenville College (Illinois) in 1964. He received an MA in history from Western Michigan University in 1970. He taught history in Michigan public schools for thirty-nine years, thirty-five of those in Portage, MI, where he retired in 2003 as chairman of the social studies department of Portage Northern High School.


Mel married Susan Brock in 1965, and they have two daughters; Amy (Kevin) Kwilinski, of Naperville, IL, and Jennifer (Jeremy) Reivitt, of Portage, MI. Mel and Susan have seven grandchildren. 

The Tainted Coin is available from Kregel Publishing.

Thanks to Kregel for the review copy.