The Bone Fire by S. D. Sykes

Pegasus Crime, 320 pages, $25.95

S. D. Sykes surprised me. After reading thousands of mystery books — or so it seems — I hope I can be forgiven for thinking that most of them recycle plot points. Now I read less for whodunnit* than whydunnit or wow! great writing or wow! unusual character. While S. D. Sykes’ “trick” is not original, it reminded me that we can be victims of our own assumptions.

So let me back up to the review now.

“The Bone Fire” is the fourth in the Plague Series. By 1361, when the events of this book take place, Oswald de Lacy has had more than his share of run-ins with the plague. This book finds him about eleven years after the events in the first book, “Plague Land.” I haven’t read Sykes’ other books, but I can attest that the author reveals enough of prior events to make it a smooth transition to “The Bone Fire.”

Here’s an aside. I always point to Sue Grafton as an expert in catching readers up with crucial backstory in a few deftly written sentences in her Kinsey Millhone series. But Grafton’s task was easier, because Kinsey often talks directly to her audience. Sykes chooses to explain background as the story progresses. So I laud Sykes for this part as well.

In “The Bone Fire,” de Lacy and his family are fleeing another sweep of the plague through the land. They have left their ancestral home and are bivouacking in a remote castle on a remote island on a remote hill. It appears that they have outrun the plague and are safe with Godfrey, Lord Eden.

There is some bickering among the castle’s now isolated residents: you know, “Titanic,” “Lifeboat,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “Survivor,” “Mockingjay” stuff. Will the provisions last the several months of winter until spring brings the raising of the castle’s portcullis? Will the strange 14-year-old daughter of one of the other sequestered lords get on everyone’s nerves? Will the shiny knight have to poke away desperate villagers from the gate? Will Godfrey be murdered?

Never mind the rest, but yes, Godfrey is murdered. Lord Eden was murdered in his study with a heavy wine cup. (While Colonel Mustard got it in the billiard room with a lead pipe.) He was dutifully giving shelter to many people. Why would someone clobber the hand that fed him or her?

There are enough strange and suspicious characters among the guests and regular castle inhabitants to provide a good, old-fashioned round of he-did-it, no-she-did-it. Then another of the castle folk is murdered. And no one can blame the plague, which still rages outside the walls.

Here’s another thing I appreciate about how Sykes has structured the story: Hero de Lacy must muddle through the moral dilemma of choosing who shall live and who shall die in an excruciating way. The plague was capable of making moral villains of the pious, but could it also make heroes of the unworthy?

As I so often do after reading books set in this time period, I mentally thank my hot water heater, my HVAC unit, my washing machine, antibiotics, my refrigerator, and my machine-made, fuzzy wool socks.

This is a read-worthy but dour look at a time of extreme crisis. Jump right into the series here, or go back to “Plague Land,” “Butcher Bird,” or “City of Masks.”

* To be fair, I’m still shite at guessing who the killer is unless its identity is obvious from the beginning.