Mathew's Tale by Quintin Jardine

from goodreads

3.5 stars

I'm not sure why, but I am get so annoyed with the crazy spelling of people's names. And when I see a name spelled a way I don't think is right I just feel irked. Now if that is the only thing that irks me then life is pretty good. But, weirdly spelled names seem to be more rampent now. It seems everyone needs to have a unique name and if it isn't unique then it has to be spelled in a unique way. Like really?

Case and point the title of the book. That is not how you spell MatThew. I know that the spelling kind of plays into the plot a bit. But seriously. Since my husbands name is Matthew every time he looked at the cover he shuddered. I almost didn't read the book because of it. The plot intrigued me enough to get me in the end.

So please people. Enough with the unique spelling of ordinary names. For all our sakes lets agree on a spelling and stick to it. (Though this is coming from someone named Meredith and quite frankly it is crazy some of the spellings I have seen for my name. Between that and my last name I just start spelling it out loud as soon as someone asks for my name.)

Synopsis

Mathew Fleming, returns home after years away in the army. When he comes home things are not as they were when he left. Despite these personal setbacks Mathew makes a very successful life for himself. When a good friend of his is charged with murder of the local Laird, Mathew will stop at nothing to figure out what really happened and exonerate his friend.

My Thoughts

This is my first book by Jardine. I am excited to read some of his others.

What I liked about his writing was he cut right to the chase. While other authors might have built up to different revelations or twists he just put it out there. What I thought would take a couple chapters was all summed up in a page. It made for a nice quickly paced read. And I definitely wouldn't want to get on Mathew's bad side.

The story itself was fine. It was interesting, and you always wanted to know what was going to happen next. But parts of it were a bit hokey. Everything that Mathew touched turned to gold. Nothing ever seemed to not go his way. And, if by some chance it didn't go his way, he did everything in his power to rectify it, and that would work out. So it just became almost too obvious or I guess unrealistic. Believable but unrealistic.

It was interesting learning about the different levels and different kinds of law professionals there were. There was the solicitor and then the actual lawyer and the different judges. There were a ton of hoops you had to go through. If we think our justice system is a bit wacky now, it was so crazy back then! And the neptism that went on. Good grief. I found it really interesting to learn about.

This was a great quick and fairly light read. So if you want a nice quick mystery/vigilante justice read, this is the one for you.