Villains: A Guest Post by Jeri Westerson, Author of "Serpent in the Thorns: A Medieval Noir"

We are delighted to welcome this guest post from Jeri Westerson, whose second novel in the Crispin Guest mystery series, Serpent in the Thorns: A Medieval Noir, is due to be released on September 29th.

Villains

By Jeri Westerson

Villains. Holmes has his Moriarity; Bond has his Blofeld; Maxwell Smart has his Siegfried. For most of us, we don’t have a nemesis (although I’m betting most of you can find someone in the office who can fit the bill).

But in the case of a mystery, there is a need for a villain or villains. He may be the murderer or the one who instigates the actions that lead the hero on his merry chase throughout the novel.

The word stems from old French, meaning a low rustic, a class of serfs. As early as the 1300’s, this term could mean someone who would go out of their way to cause harm.

It’s funny, but I can relate far more to the villain than I can with the hero. What does that say about me, I wonder? In my newest medieval mystery, SERPENT IN THE THORNS, my ex-knight turned detective Crispin Guest is the undoubted hero. He possesses qualities of loyalty, bravery, and self-sacrifice.

I can’t really relate to him, but I can put myself in his shoes like any good actor studying a part, seeking motivation and digging deep enough to make Stanislavski proud. Yes, I can much better identify with the villain.

Now a villain need not be a Snidely Whiplash type, swirling his waxed mustache, and sneering at the hapless female victim in his clutches. A scarier villain is one that is the quiet guy who lives next door. The one that all the neighbors are so surprised had a torture chamber in his basement. It’s the stuff that nightmares are made of.

But I think, for the most part, that your average villain is a narcissist. That is, they want what they want and they do their utmost to get it. I don’t think this makes them necessarily evil, though they might perform evil deeds to satisfy that agenda. No, what sets off these persistent fellows, is the problem of the hero. The hero gets in the way of the villain’s fulfilling his role. And this lays the groundwork for what is to follow: murder, mayhem, and all manner of badness. Sometimes, it just spirals out of control and it’s all the damned hero’s fault.

Then there is the accidental villain, the antagonist, who didn’t mean to murder. It was just that the argument went ballistic...and so did that gun he had trained on the victim. He didn’t mean to pull the trigger...or use that dagger...or spill the poison. They didn’t mean to do it. It was outside influences forcing their hand...or so they would like you to think. So they believe. Denial is a big part of the villains’ make up.

Let’s face it, without the villain—whoever it may be—there is no story. They are the yin to the heroes’ yang; the black to their white; the cold to their hot. Opposites. But perhaps what makes a more interesting villain—and a more interesting hero, for that matter—is when that line cannot be so easily drawn between the two.

Jeri thinks of herself as both hero and villain of her Crispin Guest novels. Decide for yourself by going to www.JeriWesterson.com for an excerpt on her latest release, Serpent in the Thorns: A Medieval Noir.

Why I Am Not Nuts About Ursula BlaNchard Mysteries

I currently find only a half dozen or so little green boxes on my bookshelf. Those boxes contain audio cassettes from the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library. Though not my only means of reading novels, it is my main one. A dozen or so books may not seem few, but looking at them this morning, having finished a Brother Cadfael just yesterday -- see That's All She Read -- I found myself generously supplied with more Brother Cadfaels and a couple Ursula Blanchards and nothing else. I don't have any text files of books ready to read as mp3s so the choice is these. The choice between an old Welsh ex-Crusader monk and an Elizabethan lady of the presence chamber who has just learned to pick locks.

The trouble is, I just don't grok with Ursula. No offense, Fiona Buckley, you are a lovely writer. but I just can't get into a heroine who spends her time describing her and other women's clothing. It's not that I want wanton masculinity .. well, I do, but not in this context -- as the fact that I prefer Cadfael should prove. I just don't enjoy girliness. I really don't care what color silk embroidery the amber velvet sports or what style of lace ruff the woman is wearing. I don't even care if the man who just caught Ursula's eye is in a splendid doublet of brocade.

I am sure there are plenty of women and men who enjoy this sort of thing, but I am not one of them. Maybe that is one reason I like the early Saxon era.. they seem more practical. There was silk then, and other fancy fabrics, but good old homespun linen and wool was good enough for Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians. Maybe this is also one of the reasons I prefer -- despite appearances -- to write about and read about less-than-royal characters.

Unfortunately WTBBL keeps sending me Cadfaels and Blanchards. I may have to take both Fiona Buckley and Ellis Peters off my preferred authors list. I love them, but then I also love licorice, and even with licorice, there is such a thing as a surfeit. King John died of a surfeit of cold water and peaches, while my fate may involve a surfeit of peach silk with fawn embroidery -- and girliness.

Take the Medieval Sleuth Quiz!

Identify which medieval sleuth or spy is referenced in the clue.

Answers can be found at http://www.medieval-novels.com/locations/mysteries.htm

1. Which medieval sleuth lost an eye to the knife of a jongleur's leman?
A. Matthew Shardrake
B. Matthew Bartholomew
C. Owen Archer

2. Which medieval sleuth learns at adulthood that her father was born to a Jewish family?
A. Ursula Blanchard
B. Katherine Le Vendeur
C. Eleanor of Wynthrope

3. Which English sovereign does the sleuthing for herself?
A. Isabella the Fair
B. Eleanor of Aquitaine
C. Queen Elizabeth I

4. Which medieval sleuth is King Edward I's senior clerk and master spy?
A. Philip Gooden
B. Sir Robert Carey
C. Sir Hugh Corbett

5. Which medieval sleuth is a medical practitioner whose first case is based on The Canterbury Tales?
A. Kathryn Swinbrooke
B. Dame Frewise
C. Katherine Swynford

6. Which medieval sleuth has a son named Olivier de Bretagne?
A. Brother Athelstan
B. Justin de Quincy
C. Brother Cadfael

7. Which sleuth has a day job that takes him to a tavern called The Queen's Head?
A. Nicholas Bracewell
B. Edward Hood
C. Christopher Marlowe

8. Which medieval sleuth's brother is the King of Cashel?
A. Grace O'Malley
B. Sister Fidelma
C. Rory McGuinness

9. Which dependable lady-in-waiting is really a spy who reports to Sir William Cecil?
A. Ursula Blanchard
B. Rosamund Cllifford
C. Lady Amy Robsart

10. Which medieval sleuth is a doctor skilled in reading corpses and solved the murder of the "Fair Rosumend", Henry II's famous mistress?
A. Abbess Halewise
B. Mistress Lucy Wilton
C. Adelia de Aguilar

11. Which medieval sleuth accompanied Queen Isabella to England when she married Edward II?
A. Mistress Jane Shore
B. Mathilde of Westminster
C. Piers Gaveston

12. Which medieval sleuth helped rescue Richard of Gloucester's wife Anne Neville?
A. Roger the Chapman
B. Brother Athelstan
C. Sir Roger Shallot

Answers are at http://www.medieval-novels.com/locations/mysteries.htm

Wherein Leofwen Packs her Bags and Moves

erry gentle folk,
Some years have I resided in this fictional town of Lawrencium, content under the protective watch of the bluff-top palace and its royal king and queen. I was graced with a mention in the novel of their adventures, An Involuntary King, and shared with you much learning about them and about the time in which we all lived.

Now must I leave that life behind and prepare myself for a new one. I leave not only this town but as well the time in which I have passed my sojourn here, the late eighth century. For my new home is what in your own time will be called Winchester and in the time I shall abide in it, the mid-tenth century, Wintanceaster. I go to be the heroine of mine creator's -- not Our Good Lord but Nan Hawthorne -- series of paranormal mysteries that shall center about my new tavern and be shared with familiar but nonetheless new friends and companions.

Share I will as well with you, gentle reader, my progress in my new life as mine own great granddaughter who bears my name exact, as shall my tavern yet be called the Blue Lady Tavern.

It shall be some time ere these tales will reach your hands, so pray be patient. I shall endeavour to keep your minds amused until we can leap out of our future, your past, to entertain, mystify and delight you.

Leofwen Taverner





Visit Leofwen in her new home at Wintanceaster!