FALCONER AND THE FACE OF GOD

"Morson's protagonist is Falconer is a regent at Oxford in the mid-1200s, during the latter days of the incredibly long reign of Henry III, the great-grandson of Matilda and father of Edward the hammer who conquered Scotland. The Falconer solves crimes in the little city of Oxford. He has been described as a Middle-Ages Morse on the book jacket but he's not that good--yet. In FALCONER AND THE FACE OF GOD, a troupe of jongleurs not unlike the crew that stages the play in Hamlet arrives in Oxford in time to present a Christmas play covering everything from Creation to the death of Christ. Given the leading actor, a golden-haired fellow named de Askeles, is a despicable if semi-educated cur, fatal things are bound to happen and they do. Before long, the Falconer finds himself involved with two mysterious deaths which he solves just in time for the New Year. "