Fans of CJ Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake historical mystery series will likely feel right at home here with John Pilkington’s Bishopsgate Ward series. The first of three, Death of a Stranger, introduces us to constable Matthew Cutler. Set in around 1594, it’s right after the London plague, and things are only starting to resemble a normal life for all the residents. However, many lives were lost during the plague years, and Cutler’s family was not spared. The story begins when he’s made aware of the death of a perfumer.

Death of a Stranger is a good enough story that kept me reading. It was offered as a selection in Prime Reading, so although I could have quit anytime without any real loss, it was just good enough for me to see it through till the very end. Matthew Cutler is an average enough citizen but with a high sense of justice. This leads him to go above his station of mere constable and is what also leads him into many troubles. The other characters in the story, however, are just slightly below average and not too anything exciting. But I remember that the Matthew Shardlake series is quite similar as well. The two definitely share many similar things, and not just the setting and historical period itself.

The author, however, did a pretty good job at not revealing the mystery until towards the end. I did feel that a bit more time could have been spent cultivating the foreigner angle, if only to add more confusion and maybe another plot twist to the story. As it stood, it could get a bit tiresome to read Cutler basically go from point A to point B and then back to point A, only to restart the very next day. But I had to keep in mind the times that the story takes place and how limited their lives were. Once again, this is not so different from the Shardlake series, but with that one, it was less of a strain to read due to the sharp wits of the main character along with him having a partner to work with. Matthew Cutler here is basically running solo for the majority of the book, and there are times when his character doesn’t feel up to the task of it. I’ve also found the lack of worthy quotes to highlight throughout the story very disappointing.