Troubled Bones (32 page)

I’ve also been wanting to get to Chaucer in my series. I grew up with
The Canterbury Tales.
I was probably the only American five-year-old who could recite the first few lines of the Prologue. In Middle English, no less! I just assumed school kids in 1960s Los Angeles all knew the story of Chaunticleer. They didn’t. I had a children’s version of
The Canterbury Tales
, which I pored over during my childhood with its Bosch-esque illustrations. I have it still. Later, of course, when I was older I could enjoy the
Fabliuex
of the Miller’s Tale and the finer points of the Wife of Bath’s Tale. I haunted the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, when I was a kid and later as a teen, where they have, among other wonderful things, the Ellsmere Manuscript on display.

In this book I have strayed from a firm point of view through Crispin’s eyes and offered a look through Jack’s. I hope, dear Reader, that this didn’t throw you and that, indeed, you found a new pleasure in the reading, having a rare glimpse into Jack’s psyche. I love Jack. He’s Peter Pan, the Artful Dodger, Huck Finn, and every other smart little boy we’ve ever known who just needed a chance to prove himself. Where would Crispin be without Jack? Jack is growing up, though, and in no other previous novel has this been more apparent.

There is more murder afoot, sly deceptions, a mysterious relic, an irresistible femme fatale, the return of Geoffrey Chaucer, and more stirring adventure in Crispin’s next tale,
Blood Lance
.

Glossary

CANONICAL HOURS
   Also called the Divine Office, these are specific hours for certain prayers by monastics, though the church bells that called each canonical hour helped divide the day for the laity as well.

CHAPERON HOOD
   A shoulder cape with a hood attached.

CHAPLAIN
   In the context of
The Canterbury Tales,
the Prioress’ chaplain is a personal assistant rather than a confessor.

CHEMISE
   A shirt for both male and female, usually white. All-purpose, used also as a nightshirt.

COMPLINE
   The last canonical hour of the day.

COTEHARDIE (COAT)
   Any variety of upper-body outerwear popular from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance. For men, it was a coat reaching to the thighs or below the knee, with buttons all the way down the front and sometimes at the sleeves. Worn over a chemise. Sometimes the belt was worn at the hips and sometimes the belt moved up to the waist. This is what Crispin wears.

DEGRADATION
   This is when knighthood is taken from a man, usually because of treason or other crimes against the crown.

FRANKLIN
   Ranked below the gentry, he is a freeholder of land.

HOUPPELANDE
   A fourteenth-century upper-body outerwear for men or women, with fashionably long sleeves that touched the ground.

INDULGENCE
   A remission of punishment (in Purgatory, for instance) after sacramental absolution.

LATTEN
   An alloy resembling brass.

LIRIPIPE
   The long tail on a hat or hood.

MANCIPLE
   Servant responsible for supplying provisions for a college or inn; in this case for law students.

NEWGATE
   A city gate in London as well as a prison.

NONE
   One of the canonical hours of the day, about two pm.

PARDONER
   A purveyor of indulgences, a pardoner of sins.

ROUNCEY
   A riding horse.

SENNIGHT
   A period of seven days, a week.

SHRIVE/SHRIVEN
   To make confession in the penitential sense.

SORREL
   Chestnut brown color, commonly used when referring to horses.

SUMMONER
   Official of ecclesiastical courts who calls upon religious offenders to attend.

VESPERS
   One of the canonical hours, sunset.

WHELP
   A young dog.

The Crispin Guest Novels by Jeri Westerson

Veil of Lies

Serpent in the Thorns

The Demon’s Parchment

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

TROUBLED BONES
. Copyright © 2011 by Jeri Westerson. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.minotaurbooks.com

Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Westerson, Jeri.

Troubled bones : a Crispin Guest medieval noir / Jeri Westerson. — 1st ed.

        p.   cm.

ISBN 978-0-312-62163-6

1.  Guest, Crispin (Fictitious character)—Fiction.   2.  Knights and knighthood—England—Fiction.   3.  Theft of relics—Fiction.   4.  Murder—Investigation—Fiction.   5.  Great Britain—History—14th century—Fiction.   6.  London (England)—Fiction.   I.  Title.

PS3623.E8478T76 2011

813'.6—dc22

2011018785

e-ISBN 9781429977586

First Edition: October 2011