“Make sure that Chimbai does not return alive from England. I repeat – Chimbai must die!”

Oxford, 1268, and the Tartar tribe from the east has arrived to seek and audience with King Henry III of England – possibly the English king that nobody knows the least about these days…

With the King in absentia, William Falconer of the University is chosen to represent him and meet the leader of the Tartars, Chimbai. But after a terrifying display of eastern magic, including a version of the Indian Rope Trick, the talks fall apart.

When Chimbai is found dead in his tent, and a member of the King’s envoy is found mutilated by a Tartar ritual killing, Falconer must find the murderer before the talks devolve into violence across the city… and beyond.

The third in my trilogy hunting for a new historical series and, yes, this is a bit of a cheat given that I’ve read four of these already so obviously I like the series. I just keep forgetting about it. It’s another of those collections you can get on ebook from Joffe Books for a pittance and this one is definitely worth the 55p that it is currently going for as part of the collection.

It’s an engrossing read. It’s not essential to read the whole series but there are ongoing storylines that will reward regular readers. Falconer is an interesting chap and we finally meet his mentor, Roger Bacon, in this one, adding to the cast.

The various suspects, both Tartar and otherwise, form a motely crew, but the one place this does suffer is the killer is very guessable, and if you can explain to me exactly how the murder was committed, I’d really appreciate.

All in all though, a very entertaining read, especially with the parts pertaining to the Great Beast of the title. Of the three series that I’ve read recently, I’m pretty sure this is the one I’ll be coming back to first.