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    The King's Hounds
    The King's Hounds
    The King's Hounds
    Audiobook11 hours

    The King's Hounds

    Written by Martin Jensen

    Narrated by Napoleon Ryan

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The first in the bestselling Danish series of historical mysteries.

    The newly crowned King Cnut of Denmark has conquered England and rules his new empire from Oxford. The year is 1018 and the war is finally over, but the unified kingdom is far from peaceful.

    Halfdan’s mixed lineage—half Danish, half Saxon—has made him a pauper in the new kingdom. His father, his brother, and the land he should have inherited were all taken by the new king’s men. He lost everything to the war but his sense of humor. Once a proud nobleman, Halfdan now wanders the country aimlessly, powered only by his considerable charm and some petty theft. When he finds an unlikely ally in Winston, a former monk, he sees no reason not to accept his strange invitation to travel together to Oxford. Winston has been commissioned to paint a portrait of the king at the invitation of his new wife, and the protection of a clever man like Halfdan is well worth its price in wine and bread.

    But when the pair’s arrival in court coincides with news of a murder, the king has a brilliant idea: Why not enlist the newly arrived womanizing half-Dane and the Saxon intellectual to defuse a politically explosive situation? The pair represents both sides of the conflict and seem to have crime-solving skills to boot. In their search for the killer, Halfdan and Winston find seduction, adventure, and scandal in the wild early days of Cnut’s rule.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    TranslatorTara F. Chace
    Release dateOct 29, 2013
    ISBN9781480531710
    The King's Hounds
    Author

    Martin Jensen

    Bestselling Danish novelist Martin Jensen was born in 1946 into a working-class family and worked as a teacher and a headmaster in Sweden and Denmark before becoming a full-time author in 1996. He and his wife collect mushrooms, enjoy bird watching, and are botany enthusiasts. Martin Jensen is the author of twenty-one novels. The King’s Hounds is his first title to be published in English.

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    Reviews for The King's Hounds

    3.5/5

    64 ratings10 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Read for the second time - In the time of King Cnut he instructs an illuminator, Winston, and a landless nobleman, Halfdan, to find out the murderer of a Saxon thane, named Osfrid.
      An interesting and well-written mystery which kept my interest throughout. With its likeable main characters
    • 3/5
      This book was set in 1018 during the reign of King Cnut, an era and reign I knew nothing about so an educational read for me. The narrator is a former nobleman's son who has turned thief and con man in order to survive, who ends up being befriended by an illuminator on the road to Oxford. The illuminator (one of the best in the land) has been retained by King Cnut's consort to illuminate a book to be gifted to the King. Once arriving at Oxford however, the two are appointed by the King to look into the murder of a nobleman. This book started strong and I liked the characters, but after they actually started to look into the murder there was a lot of characters, and a lot of running around, so the book didn't finish as strongly as it started. I may read the next in the series to see if it improves.
    • 4/5
      From the recent novels I've read set during the Norman conquest, I've now moved back 50 years to an earlier invasion of England, that of the Danish King Canute, 1000 years ago this year. He defeated the English King, Edmund Ironside in 1016, and they made a deal to divide the country between them, with the survivor inheriting the whole kingdom. Ironside died later that year, though it isn't clear if it was murder or he died of his wounds at the decisive battle of Essandun. This novel is set a year or two later when Canute is trying to unite the fractured kingdom he has conquered. Against this tense background, a Saxon noble is murdered just before a crucial meeting of the Saxon Witenagemot and Danish Thing (a similar assembly of notable men) in Oxford. Step forward our two protagonists: Halfdan, whose father, a Saxon nobleman, died at Essandun and whose mother was Danish; and Winston, an ex-monk who is a skilled illustrator of manuscripts. The characters are good, well rounded and far from being Medieval stereotypes; most of the minor characters are also interesting and believable. This is the first of what appear to be a trilogy of novels, translated from the original Danish; my only criticism was that some of the translation jarred as it sounded a little too modern to me. A good read, and I already have the sequel on my Kindle (downloaded before I read this in some earlier sale).
    • 4/5
      Good start to a series.
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars. I might have given this 4 stars if I hadn't been annoyed by a glaring historical inaccuracy in the very beginning -- Winston, the illuminator of manuscripts, was using a graphite pencil. While graphite was discovered (in the early 1500s) much earlier than I had expected when I looked into this, it was still much later than the setting of this novel in 1018. This was the only such inaccuracy that I noticed so it is too bad that it happened so early and tinged my opinion of the book.

      This Danish mystery is set in England a few years after King Cnut (Canute was the way I would have spelled it) began ruling. I found this early medieval setting, when Angles, Jutes, Saxons, and Danes (Vikings) were first coming together into a unified country very interesting. While I had heard of King Canute before, I hadn't really realized that there was a time when England (and apparently Ireland too?) was under the rule of the Danes. One thing I would have liked that was missing was an appendix with definitions of some of the historical terms (such as housecarls, Witenagemot, etc.). Most of the meanings became clear from the context but it would have been a nice addition to the book.

      I liked the use of the Saxon Winston coupled with Halfdan, a young dispossessed nobleman -- whose mother was Danish and father Saxon -- as main characters. Not only do the two provide a way to see different ethnicities but Winston had a background in the religious life (monasteries and abbeys) while Halfdan knew more about the "wild" side of life from his days of living hand-to-mouth. The murder investigation by these two was fine with the caveat that this was not a mystery that the reader could solve before the 'detectives'. I will be reading more from this series.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this mystery. The story is clearly written and the setting is one that is fairly new to me - the 10th century Danish kingdom of England under King Cnut. I enjoyed the characters was happy to spend some time in their company. The biggest problem that I have with this book is that it is the first book in a series, and as far as I can tell, the only one translated into English. I hope to see more of the series made available soon.
    • 4/5
      Delightful first installment of a medieval mystery series fea turing a Saxon ex-monk illuminator, Winston and his partner, Halfdan, a landless Danish/Saxon noble during their reign of King Canute of Denmark, who is ruling a unified England. The duo, at the behest of the king, work together to solve the murder of a thane [lower nobility]. Written by a Danish author. Sometimes, English colloquialisms such as guys, buddies, pals, irritated me, but that was probably the translation. "Winston" was a strange choice for a character's name in a novel set in the 11th century.
    • 4/5
      Interesting era portrayed from the aspect of a dispossessed minor noble and a very successful manuscript illuminator. Joining together to travel more safely travel to Oxford. On discovering a dead body, they are charged by King Cnut, a Dane, to find the killer from the Vikings, Dane and Saxon gathered to pay the here-geld, a war tax, from the landowners.
    • 4/5
      I'm addicted!Ok, I'm addicted already to this series. Certainly I hope for more translations to follow.King Cnut is in Oxford to hold a Witenagemot (a National council assembly of the King, nobles and bishops) trying to bring the various English peoples now under his command (Angles, Jutes, Saxons, Danes, most recently, Vikings) together as one people. Kin Cnut wants this to move forward. But a well known South Saxon thane, Osfrid, has been murdered. A man who was known to be Cnut's enemy. King Cnut Cnut wants the murder solved so that his plans for unity, peace and kingship aren't thwarted.Winston the Illuminater has been commissioned by the King's consort, Lady Aelfgifu, to paint a Cnut's portrait.Halfdan an ex half Danish nobleman (his father chose the wrong side) is here to seek a living or more certainly, the main chance. The two met on the road and travelled to Oxford together with a couple of adventures enroute.Cnut choses Winston and Halfdan to conduct the murder investigation. He gives them three days to find the guilty party.As the two move forward with their investigation the singular murder is suddenly crowded with bodies and potential suspects...and the list just keeps growing.There's betrayed wives, hints of treason, angered landholders and more.The action moves smartly along aided by an excellent translation from Danish into English by Tara Chace. She is to be applauded in enabling the smooth flowing and very readable dialogue.The novel gives a credible insight into the life and times of this period in English History.A very enjoyable and often humorous read. Bring on the next in the series.A NetGalley ARC
    • 4/5
      In this new medieval mystery series, Cnut of Denmark in 1018 has conquered the Saxons and is in the process of unifying England. The country is still unsettled so when a nobleman is found murdered, the king selects a Dane, Halfdan, and a Saxon, Winston, to investigate and find the murderer.Cnut gives them 3 days to determine whodunit knowing that he is sending them into a powder keg. The characters and situations were entertaining and kept this reader's interest throughout. Looking forward to the next in this series.