Roger the Chapman Mystery #10

King Edward IV trembles as he decides the fate of his sibling. And Richard, Duke of Gloucester, plots, trying to find a way to save George from being put to death by their eldest – and powerful – brother, the King.

So when the Duke sees his old and loyal servant, monk-turned-travelling salesman Roger the Chapman, among the crowd at the trial he recognises that he has a chance. If only the chapman-sleuth could prove that the kinswoman of the King’s favorite leman hadn’t poisoned her taciturn husband. If Isolda Bonifant, the daughter of a well-established London goldsmith, were innocent and her name cleared, then Edward’s chief mistress – cousin of the accused Isolda – would be more than willing to do the wily Duke’s bidding.

But Roger the Chapman must act fast and, in a complex case like this one and with the pressure of Richard of Gloucester upon him, he can’t simply rely on his intuition…

Roger the Chapman Mystery #17In the summer of 1482, an English army, under the command of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, invades Scotland in order to win back the border town of Berwick-on-Tweed and to put King James the Third’s renegade younger brother, the Duke of Albany, on the Scottish throne. Albany insists that his old acquaintance, Roger Chapman, be a member of his personal bodyguard, so an astonished and extremely reluctant Roger finds himself, by royal decree, a part of the invading forces.But during the march northwards, a series of sinister events, centred around the cult figure of the mythical Green Man, makes Roger question Albany’s true motive for requesting his presence. And once in Edinburgh, he is called upon not only to solve a murder, again involving the Green Man, but also begins to realize that his own life could be in danger.

A Crowner John Mystery #6

Coroner Sir John chases down a serial killer with a taste for Biblical justice in this suspenseful instalment in the Crowner John medieval mystery series, set in twelfth-century England.

1195. County coroner Sir John de Wolfe is summoned to inspect a corpse in Exeter’s cathedral precinct. Moneylender Aaron of Salisbury has been found dead, his head enveloped in a brown leather money-bag, a scrap of folded parchment clutched in his hand. On it is written: ‘And Jesus went into the temple and overthrew the tables of the money-changers.’

This is just the beginning of a strange series of murders in which an apt biblical text is left at the scene of the crime. Setting out to track down a literate and Bible-learned killer in an age when only one percent of the population can read or write, Sir John quickly deduces that he is looking for a priest. But with over twenty-five parish churches in Exeter, the pool of suspects includes more than a hundred clerics – and if Sir John doesn’t act fast, the homicidal clergyman may soon strike again…

The Owen Archer Series #9Winter in the year of our Lord 1372. A river pilot falls into the icy waters of the River Ouse during a skirmish between dockworkers and the boys of the minster school, which include Owen Archer’s adopted son Jasper. But what began as a confrontation to return a boy’s stolen scrip becomes a murder investigation as the rescuers find the pilot dying of wounds inflicted before his plunge into the river. When another body is fished from the river upstream and Owen discovers that the boy Jasper sought to help has disappeared, Owen Archer convinces the archbishop that he must go in search of the boy. His lost scrip seems to hold the key to the double tragedy, but his disappearance leaves troubling questions: did he flee in fear? Or was he abducted?On the cusp of this new mystery, Owen accepts Jasper’s offer to accompany him to the boy’s home in the countryside, where they learn that a valuable cross has gone missing. A devastating fire and another drowning force Owen to make impossible choices, endangering not only himself, but the two innocents he fights to protect. The bond between fathers and sons proves strong, even between those not linked by blood.

The Twenty Third Chronicle of Matthew BartholomewIn 1360 a deputation from Cambridge ventures to the Suffolk town of Clare in the hope that the wealthy Elizabeth de Burgh has left a legacy to Michaelhouse. Yet when they arrive they discover that the report of her death is false and that the college seems destined for bankruptcy.Determined to see if some of its well-heeled citizens can be persuaded to sponsor Michaelhouse, Matthew Bartholomew, Brother Michael and Master Langelee become enmeshed in the town’s politics. They quickly discover that a great many other people in Clare have recently met untimely deaths. These killings, combined with the arrogance Lady de Burgh has shown over the refurbishment of the church and the grotesque behaviour of some of her entourage, have created a dangerous restlessness in the town: an atmosphere intensified when yet more murders occur.One of the victims is a fellow traveller of the Michaelhouse contingent, and Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael feel honour-bound to identify his killer. It is a hunt which takes them deep into Clare’s murky foundations and which threatens their own survival as well as that of their beloved college.

The Tenth Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew.Cambridge, February 1355 – and as the worst snows in living memory begin to melt, a long-frozen body is revealed.As the temperature gradually rises in the Fenland town, the passions of its citizens also emerge from the winter chill. A skeletal hand has become an object of veneration, viewed by some as a holy relic and capable of curing all ills, but thought by others to have come from a local simpleton. Meanwhile, two well-born citizens, who had been convicted of murder, have received the King’s Pardon, and have now returned to Cambridge showing no remorse for their actions, but ready to confront those who helped to convict them.And there is a dispute between the local mills, regarding which should have the right to distribute the King’s corn. When Matthew Bartholomew is summoned to one of the mills where two people have been killed by nails rammed into their mouths, he and Brother Michael know exactly who to question. But as so often in the University city, nothing is as straightforward as it seems …

Roger the Chapman Mystery #3Sometimes dead men tell the most interesting tales…New Year's, 1474, finds Roger the Chapman collapsed with fever after wandering the frozen roads of Western England. Taken in by widow Margaret Walker and her daughter, Lillis, in the ancient trading port of Bristol, he awakens to find himself in the middle of another mystery.The two women seem mistrusted by villagers and uneasy even at home. He learns that Margaret's father vanished last year, presumed dead. A man was hanged for his murder, but not two months later the old man wandered back into town, unable to account for his disappearance.Vowing to root out the evil at work in the Walker home, Roger puts his God-given talent for solving mysteries to good use, once more unravelling the complex web before him: a town plagued by secret allegiances, rivalries and deceit…The third book in the completely gripping Roger the Chapman mysteries, full of suspense and intrigue, perfect for fans of D. V. Bishop, Graham Brack and S. G. MacLean.