Thomas Hill Trilogy #3

Spring, 1661. After years of civil war followed by Oliver Cromwell’s joyless rule as Lord Protector, England awaits the coronation of King Charles II. The mood in London is one of relief and hope for a better future.

But when two respectable gentlemen are found in a foul lane with their throats cut, it becomes apparent that England’s enemies are using the newly re-established Post Office for their own ends. There are traitors at work and plans to overthrow the king. Another war is possible.

Thomas Hill, in London visiting friends, is approached by the king’s security advisor and asked to take charge of deciphering coded letters intercepted by the Post Office. As the body count rises and the killer starts preying on women, the action draws closer to Thomas – and his loved ones. He finds himself dragged into the hunt for the traitors and the murderer, but will he find them before it’s too late?

Thomas Hill Trilogy #1

Summer, 1643. England is at war with itself. King Charles I has fled London, his negotiations with Parliament in tatters. The country is consumed by bloodshed.

For Thomas Hill, a quiet man running a bookshop in the rural town of Romsey, knowledge of the war is limited to the rumours that reach the local inn.

When a stranger knocks on his door informing him that the king’s cryptographer has died, everything changes. Aware of Thomas’s expertise in codes and ciphers, the king has summoned him to Oxford.

On arrival, Thomas soon discovers that nothing at court is straightforward. There is evidence of a traitor in their midst. Brutal murder follows brutal murder. When a vital message is intercepted, encrypted with a notoriously unbreakable cipher, more lives are in danger.

But will Thomas decipher it in time to reveal the king’s betrayer and prevent another violent death?

Thomas Hill Trilogy #1

Summer, 1643. England is at war with itself. King Charles I has fled London, his negotiations with Parliament in tatters. The country is consumed by bloodshed.

For Thomas Hill, a quiet man running a bookshop in the rural town of Romsey, knowledge of the war is limited to the rumours that reach the local inn.

When a stranger knocks on his door informing him that the king’s cryptographer has died, everything changes. Aware of Thomas’s expertise in codes and ciphers, the king has summoned him to Oxford.

On arrival, Thomas soon discovers that nothing at court is straightforward. There is evidence of a traitor in their midst. Brutal murder follows brutal murder. When a vital message is intercepted, encrypted with a notoriously unbreakable cipher, more lives are in danger.

But will Thomas decipher it in time to reveal the king’s betrayer and prevent another violent death?

The Owen Archer Series #4From the marshy Thames to the misty Yorkshire moors, murder stalks Welsh soldier-sleuth Owen Archer and one of his oldest friends.On a snowy morning in 1367, Sir William of Wyndesore’s page is found in the icy moat of Windsor Castle, and some whisper that the murderer was Ned Townley – a former comrade-in-arms of Owen Archer. Burdened with a reputation as a notoriously jealous lover, Ned cannot hope to clear his name; even Mary, his ladylove, is unsure of the truth. Hoping to put Ned out of harm’s way while solving the murder, Owen places his friend in charge of a mission to Rievaulx Abbey at the edge of the moors. But when the travelers receive news of Mary’s drowning, Ned vanishes into the wild.Riding out in search of his old friend, Owen does not know whether he will be Ned’s savior or executioner. With his one good eye, Owen sees more than most, but now he must find a way to penetrate the curtains of power that surround the Church and England’s royal court and discover the truth of Ned’s innocence or guilt…

The Owen Archer Series #2

“A lovingly detailed background informs and animates the plot at every point.” – KIRKUS

Perfect for fans of both Ellis Peters and CJ Sansom, The Lady Chapel is a vivid and immersive portrait of court intrigue and a testament to the power of the medieval guilds.

Summer in the year of our Lord 1365. On the night after the Corpus Christi procession, a man is brutally murdered on the steps of York Minster. The next morning his severed hand is found in a room at the York Tavern – a room hastily vacated by a fellow guild member who had quarreled with the victim.

Archbishop Thoresby calls on Owen Archer to investigate. As Owen tracks the fleeing merchant, he uncovers a conspiracy involving a powerful company of traders, but his only witness is a young boy who has gone into hiding, and his only suspect is a mysterious cloaked woman. When Owen discovers a link between the traders and a powerful coterie in the royal court, he brings his apothecary wife Lucie into the race to find the boy before he is silenced forever by the murderers.

Roger the Chapman Mystery #11

July 1478, and business is good for Bristol’s bakers during the lead up to Lammastide – ‘Loaf-mass’, the ancient harvest festival. But the shady Jasper Fairbrother’s baking days are over when he’s found face down with a knife in his back. Suspicion immediately falls on the mysterious Breton who’d arrived that day and had been seen having an argument with Fairbrother. But when it emerges that the Breton is also a suspected Lancastrian spy, Roger the Chapman wonders if suspicion of murder is merely a convenient pretext for the authorities to hunt down the Breton. True, there is no reason for Roger to take an interest in the case, and should he when he ought to be peddling his wares to provide for his new baby boy? But his curiosity and sense of justice is piqued – and before he finds out who murdered the baker, he is to become more than a little personally involved as some of the things nearest and dearest to his heart come under threat.

They say we’ll never know what happened to those men.They say the sea keeps its secrets…Cornwall, 1972. Three keepers vanish from a remote lighthouse, miles from the shore. The entrance door is locked from the inside. The clocks have stopped. The Principal Keeper’s weather log describes a mighty storm, but the skies have been clear all week.What happened to those three men, out on the tower? The heavy sea whispers their names. The tide shifts beneath the swell, drowning ghosts. Can their secrets ever be recovered from the waves?Twenty years later, the women they left behind are still struggling to move on. Helen, Jenny and Michelle should have been united by the tragedy, but instead it drove them apart. And then a writer approaches them. He wants to give them a chance to tell their side of the story. But only in confronting their darkest fears can the truth begin to surface…Inspired by real events, The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex is an intoxicating and suspenseful mystery, an unforgettable story of love and grief that explores the way our fears blur the line between the real and the imagined.

"Tom Hawkins is one of the best protagonists to come along in years. Magnificent!" – Jeffery Deaver"A terrific historical thriller." – Missourian"As good as her stellar debut… Pitch-perfect suspense." – Publishers Weekly, starred reviewLondon, 1728. Tom Hawkins is headed to the gallows, accused of murder. Gentlemen don't hang and Tom's damned if he'll be the first – he is innocent, after all. It's hard to say when Tom's troubles began. He was happily living in sin with his beloved – though their neighbors weren't happy about that. He probably shouldn't have told London's great criminal mastermind that he was in need of adventure. Nor should he have joined the king's mistress in her fight against her vindictive husband. And he definitely shouldn't have trusted the calculating Queen Caroline. She's promised him a royal pardon if he holds his tongue, but there's nothing more silent than a hanged man. Now Tom's scrambling to save his life and protect those he loves. But as the noose tightens, his time is running out.

The fourth novel featuring art historian Jonathan Argyll and his girlfriend, Flavia di Stefano of Rome’s Art Theft Squad. Argyll is in Paris, where he undertakes to deliver a minor 18th-century painting to a client in Rome — simple enough, until the client and another possible buyer are murdered.

Set in Lisbon in 1506, a debut novel in the tradition of THE NAME OF THE ROSE. When his uncle, a renowned kabbalist, is found dead, Berekiah's investigations lead him into the secret ways in which the Jews sought to hide from their persecutors.

Paris, 1314: A Knight Templar weeps as he watches his friends, broken by torture, go to their deaths at the stake. Pope Clement has destroyed the Order, persuaded of corruption within it. All that remains is the desire for vengeance on those who defiled the Order's name.Devon, 1316: Two years of heavy rains and poor harvests have driven many to a life of thieving; bands of outlaws known as "trail bastons" rove the countryside, spreading terror in their wake.The newly appointed Bailiff of Lydford Castle, Simon Puttock, has had little experience of violence. When the charred body of Harold Brewer is found in his burned-out cottage, Simon assumes it's accidental death. It's the new master of the local manor, Sir Baldwin Furnshill, recently returned from Europe, who deduces that Brewer was dead before the fire began.With the assistance of the astute yet strangely reticent knight, Simon begins to piece together the events of Brewer's last days. Then word comes of another murder, more horrible by far – for in this case, the victim was undoubtedly burned alive. Are the two incidents connected, and will the killers strike again?