THE SHERIFF: Book Three of The Druid Chronicles by A.M. Linden – Historical Fiction, Medieval England, Mystery

The Sheriff, the third installment of A.M. Linden’s Druid Chronicles series about 9th-century life in Anglo-Saxon England, fully immerses readers in that distant era with all of its joys, conflicts, and hardships.

Trained from his youngest years in the military, Stefan has learned both battle skills and leadership, with the ability to approach a situation without causing it to get out of hand. He is fiercely loyal, but continually denied a larger role in the kingdom’s army. His latest indignity came with the king assigning him as sheriff of Codswallow, a paltry village. With a retinue of less than 10 people including his slave, he has to collect taxes and keep the peace.

The novel shows two major episodes. The first follows his Codswallow days, including his relationship with Jonathan, owner of the Three Dragons Inn. Stefan learns that Jonathan is paying protection money to keep bandits away from the inn, and carries out a series of plans to discover who is, what we could call, the crime boss.

But Stefan stirs up yet more trouble in Codswallow.

A Druid priestess and her niece, relatives of Jonathan, take refuge in the Three Dragons Inn after their sacred shrine is discovered. The niece may actually be Jonathan’s child by his marriage to the queen’s sister, and things get complicated when Stefan, unhappily married with three children of his own, sets his eyes on her.

Before he can act on his romantic impulse, Stefan is summoned to track down a princess who went missing on the day she became betrothed to the ruler of a neighboring kingdom, possibly being abducted by that king’s enemies, or even killed. The possibility that she ran away to avoid being wed to the notoriously cruel king, was barely a consideration. It would take a person of Stefan’s many skills to find her and reunite her with her king, whether she wanted to or not.

Overall, The Sheriff is a well-rounded character study of Stefan himself.

We see him as a child, and when his warm family is torn apart by a searing dispute between him and his father. He is apprenticed to the military and is trained by Matthew, a devout Christian who sees in the youth the makings of a leader, later becoming his most loyal soldier.

Stefan shows his disappointment in the king not assigning him to the post that he deserves, but he handles trouble effectively, diffusing potential conflicts and becoming a careful investigator. He doesn’t reflect on himself, instead focusing on the problems of those around him.

This book takes time to fully establish the world and people of its stories.

Of the large cast, many characters have detailed backgrounds, some connected to previous books in the series. Thankfully, a detailed character glossary makes it easy to keep up with everyone.

The Sheriff succeeds most in its feel of authenticity.

While life in early England cannot be fully known, The Sheriff gives the reader enough granularity to help them imagine what it would be like to live there. It isn’t about the battles that often dominate history, but rather the regular people who could be our family, friends, and neighbors even though they exist in a time so far gone.

Readers who enjoy being taken away to the distant past, feeling as though they could breathe the air of something different from what they know, will find The Sheriff a fascinating and satisfying read.