Medieval Mystery series 1

Sister Fidelma of Cashel

Peter Tremayne

Fidelma is the sister of the High King of Ireland in the 7th century.

An ecclesiastical conclave to settle major divisions between the Roman and Celtic branch of Christianity is held at Whitby in 664. When a major proponent of the Celtic way, the Abbess of Kildare, is murdered, Sister Fidelma, a fellow Celtic follower and legally trained scholar, is asked to investigate.

Sister Fidelma assigned to investigate the horrible death of Wighard, Archbishop Designate of Canterbury.

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In A.D. 644, a respected scholar of the Celtic Church is murdered during a visit to the Irish Kingdom of Muman. The kingdom's ruler summons Sister Fidelma to solve the brutal murder, but her time is limited. The victim, as it turns out, was a comrade of the arrogant King of Fearna, who threatens war over the suspicious death of his friend. But during her inquiries, Sister Fidelma comes to realize that there is more at hand than what appears, and finds her own life caught in the balance.

Sister Fidelma investigates a murder at a remote abbey, only to encounter the strange disappearance of a ship and its entire crew.

Sister Fidelma  is investigating a murder in a seemingly tranquil town, only to uncover a web of secrets that everyone wants to keep hidden. And now she must race to discover the truth before she becomes the next victim.

Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf, her Saxon monk sidekick, are on their way to Gleann Geis, a remote pagan community in southwest Ireland, when they run across a horrible massacre: 33 young men have been ritually killed, their bodies laid out in a pattern peculiar to the ancient Druid faith.

Sister Fidelma is investigating the disappearance of a kingdom's most  sacred artifacts-and that of an elderly brother of the order.

In the year 666 C.E., Sister Fidelma embarks on a pilgrimage to reflect upon her commitment to the church and her relationship with the Saxon monk Eadulf. Seabound to the Shrine of St. James, she encounters her first love Cian, who abandoned her ten years earlier. But before she can sort out her feelings-she must discern if a murderer has also set sail with her.

15 tales feature inimitable and unshakable sleuth Sister Fidelma, a seventh-century Irish nun who also doubles as a distinguished advocate of the law courts of Ireland.

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Sister Fidelma's beloved friend, Brother Eadulf, is charged with the murder of a young girl. By the time Sister Fidelma arrives at his side, Eadulf has been found guilty-and faces execution in twenty-four hours. Now Fidelma must gather evidence worthy of an appeal. And behind the heinous crime is a shocking conspiracy that only she can stop.

Journeying to visit the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sister Fidelma and her companion Eadulf's ship is blown badly off course and the pair find themselves on the coast of the Welsh kingdom of Dyfe. Hosted by the king himself, Fidelma is presented with a mystery-an entire monastic community nearby has disappeared without a trace.

Fidelma of Cashel and her beloved companion Brother Eadulf have one final journey to make before returning to Ireland. Invited to Aldred's Abbey, where Eadulf's childhood friend Brother Botulf is steward, they arrive at midnight on the old pagan festival of Yule to find Botulf dead-his head caved in by a blunt instrument. As Fidelma and Eadulf soon learn, murder isn't the only danger facing those in the abbey. The ghost of a young woman haunts the cloister shadows, a ghost closely resembling the Abbot's dead wife. It will require all of Fidelma's skill as an advocate of the Brehon Courts to uncover the truth-before the abbey's secrets take yet another life.

When a woman is killed just before October's full moon-the Badger's Moon-villagers suspect that strangers staying at the abbey are to blame, and demand answers, before another woman falls victim to the full-moon killer.

In November of 667 A.D., Fidelma of Cashel has returned home to her brother's castle to discover that a servant, her son's nurse, has been found brutally murdered in the woods near town, and her son is missing, presumed kidnapped or worse. Sister Fidelma, sister to king of Muman in Ireland, an advocate of the Brehon courts, and a religieuse of the Celtic Church, and her husband Brother Eadulf now must face their most personal and baffling case ever. Is there a traitor at her brother's court? Are the Ui Fidgente, the old blood enemies of Fidelma's family, involved? And what is the role of the mysterious dwarf seen leaving the kingdom carrying a leper's bell? With few clues and precious little time, Fidelma must unravel this complicated puzzle in time to rescue her missing child.

Fidelma of Cashel - sister to the King of Muman, a religieuse of the Celtic Church and an advocate of the Brehon courts - returns in this new collection of fifteen tales. These stories of murder, mayhem, and mystery are not merely spellbinders but also provide insight into the ways and mores of the complex, fascinating society of seventh century Ireland as well as heretofore unrevealed background details of Fidelma herself.

Read review on That's All She Read.

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In January of 668 A.D., Fidelma of Cashel is called to investigate the brutal murder of Abbess Faife and the mysterious disappearance of six young female religieuse while away on a short pilgramage away from their abbey. But when Fidelma and her husband, Eadulf, arrive, they are confronted with another violent murder under mysterious circumstances. One of the senior scholars was bludgeoned to death in the oratory. With evidence of ship wreckers and the rumored figure of "The Master of Souls", a mysterious rabble rouser, roaming the nearby countryside wrecking havoc and raising rebellion, both complicating matters, the redoubtable Fidelma is faced with her most perplexing mystery ever.

In February of 668 A.D., Fidelma of Cashel and her companion Eadulf are about to get married. Again. Their initial trial marriage of a year and a day has ended and they are about to embark on a permanent partnership. As the sister to the King of Muman, Fidelma's marriage ceremony is a major event in the kingdom of Ireland and the High King, as well as kings of the other Irish kingdoms and other major figures are going to be in attendance. One not so welcome guest is the fanatical Abbot Ultan, who advocates the radical position of celibacy for all religieuse and feels that Sister Fidelma's upcoming nuptials are an abomination. On the eve of the ceremony, Abbot Ultan is found murdered in his chamber. Worse still, one of the most distinguished guests, the King of Connacht, has been seen fleeing from the scene and is charged with the murder. Quickly Fidelma, who is appointed in the King's defense, discovers that Abbot Ultan is not the pious man he was thought to be, and has numerous enemies amongst those assembled for the wedding. Her wedding delayed, the high born guests restless and querulous, and the murder and it's aftermath threatening to cause chaos throughout the Kingdom, it's up to Fidelma to uncover the murderer--and the truth behind the murder itself--if the often tenuous peace of 7th century Ireland is to be maintained.

In the late 7th Century, the High King of Ireland is killed at night in the middle of his compound. Who killed him is not in question - there are unimpeachable witnesses that point directly to the clan chieftain responsible. Dubh Duin is, after all, found by the High King's guards in the High King's bed chamber holding the murder weapon. But with impending civil war in the balance, the motive for the murder becomes of paramount importance. The Chief Brehon of Ireland asks Fidelma of Cashel - sister to the King of Muman and a dailagh - to investigate. What her investigations reveal is an intricate web of conspiracy and deception that threatens to unbalance the five kingdoms and send them spiralling into a violent and bloody civil war and religious conflict. And it's up to Fidelma to not only see to justice but to private the violent fracturing of an increasingly fragile peace.

An Ensuing Evil collects for the first time fourteen of his historical mysteries ranging in time and place from 7th-century Ireland (featuring his best known sleuth, Fidelma of Cashel) and 8th-century Scotland (featuring the real-life Macbeth) to the recent history of Victorian England and beyond. These fourteen tales of murder, mayhem and mystery each display Tremayne's usual mix of compelling historical detail about the time period and a baffling puzzle that will delight and confound his ever-growing legion of fans.

Ellis Peters

Former crusader turned monk does CSI for crimes committed near his abbey in 12th century Shropshire.  See also incomparable TV series.

Who is really in St. Winifred's grave?

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Why is there an extra body among the garrison's executed men?

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Was a toxic herb administered on purpose?

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Is espionage involved in the murder of a Bristol merchant?

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What revenge could a leper want?

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Two children are rescued by ... drum roll.. Cadfael's son Olivier!

Read review in That's All She Read.  NLS RC045828

A traveling jongleur is accused of killing a prominent merchant and  must stay in sanctuary at the abbey.  NH's favorite Cadfael (so far).

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An emissary for the Bishop of Winchester goes  missing.. is the overzealous young novice the murdereer?

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When a young Welsh captive is offered in exchange for prisoner Sheriff Prescott, tragedy and love conflict.

Read review at That's All She Read.
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A dead man's body is found among the possessions of one of a group of pilgrims

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I think this is the one about the murdered priest.

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What has a novice's obsession with a widow have to do with his murder?

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A man returns from traveling with his now deceased pilgrim master, only to find himself disrupting the plans of various people and being accused of heresy.

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A woman's body is found buried in a shallow grave.  Is she the missing wife of a man who became a monk?

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Another abbey wants St. Winifred's bones.  The TV bersion changed whodunnit!  For shame!

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Cadfael leaves the abbey to find his son, Olivier, imprisoned by Queen Maud.

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Catherine LeVendeur Mysteries

Early 12th century Paris. Engaging characters, gripping mysteries against the backdrop of the Jewish community in Paris makes for great entertainment.

Catherine is sent home by Heloise to find out who is defacing Abelard's books and why.. and she meets Edgar.

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A relic theft and smuggling ring might involve the abbot

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On pilgrimage to St. James Compostella, a group of knights is murdered one by one. 

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1140 Anno Domini: A wealthy countess lies dying at the Convent of the Paraclete, brutally beaten by unknown assailants. Despite entreaties, she is unwilling to name her killers. Beautiful Catherine LeVendeur, the Paraclete's most learned young novice-scholar, vows to find out the identity of the woman's attacker. When her beloved Edgar comes to lead her from the convent to a life of the flesh, Catherine is torn between her quest for justice and the pledge she made to him. Catherine doesn't want to break any of the vows she's made-and if she abandons her crusade for the truth, others will die, and the convent she loves may be destroyed . 

After giving birth to a son, Catherine LeVendeur is looking forward to an idyllic life with her husband, Edgar, in Paris. Yet her contentment is shattered when she and Edgar receive tragic news from Scotland: Edgar's two oldest brothers have been ambushed and murdered, and Edgar must return home to help avenge their deaths. Once in Scotland, Catherine is surprised to learn that Edgar's family is not what she imagined. His father. Waldeve, is a cold tyrant, and his remaining siblings are strange and secretive. Separated from Edgar in their efforts to uncover the truth, Catherine becomes a stranger in a strange land, searching for refuge in a war-torn country at the same time she searches for her husband. Yet she knows that any haven she finds will only be temporary until she answers this question: Who among Waldeve's enemies hates him passionately enough to destroy his whole family—including, she fears, his new infant grandson?

 Catherine LeVendeur family's fortune is in commerce, and while her husband, Edgar, is a capable trader, they must rely on her dearest cousin, Solomon, to negotiate the treacherous path to riches. And therein lies the danger, for the fact that Solomon is her cousin is secret. Catherine's father was abducted as a child and raised as a devout Catholic---but most of his family escaped and remained Jews. If their family connections are discovered, it could mean ruin to Catherine's family. Or death. As Edgar and Solomon travel to Spain to make their fortunes, Solomon is drawn into a scheme to try to rescue a Jewish girl take by Christians during the conquest of the Spanish city of Almeira. To complicate matters, and sorely vex his heart, Solomon encounters his long-lost father Jacob, a man who rejected his Jewish faith and is now Brother James, preparing his own trip to Spain to ransom Crusader knights taken by the Moslems. When a fellow monk is killed by an attacker in the street late at night, it's put down to a random mugging. But James, who is carrying the ransom money, believes that he will be the next target. Circumstances force him to turn for help to the son he abandoned. Solomon wants nothing to do with his father. But he's confronted by his past, his ancestry, the need for secrecy, and his love for those of his family who have chosen a different path.

Catherine's estranged younger sister, Agnes, has been promised in marriage to a German lord. Bitter about their religious differences, Agnes wants no part of Catherine or their father, except for the sizable dowry that he can provide. When Catherine and her father send Agnes off with her dowry and two knights in escort, they assume that they have seen the last of her. But soon one of the escorts returns with terrible news: Agnes' new husband appears to have been murdered, and Agnes, the prime suspect, is being held, accused of murder by poisoning, or even worse, witchcraft. In spite of their differences, Catherine believes in Agnes' innocence, and knows that she must do everything she can to save her sister's life. But when Catherine and her brood travel to Germany to begin sleuthing in a dangerously anti-Semitic climate, it becomes clear that Catherine and her husband's long-dreamt-of life of peace remains in the distant future, if they live to see it.

When Catherine's grandfather sends for his family to tell them their well is going dry, Catherine is alarmed. The family's wealth depends on its status, and if the well goes dry, their castle will fall. Her grandfather seems wracked with a fear deeper than that, though, and there's a mysterious woman who is either old or young, dead or alive, depending on whom you ask. Catherine doesn't believe the magical legends her family has handed down, that they are the descendents of a knight of Charlemagne's and a faerie--she puts her faith and distrust in the human condition. When bodies being appearing, not ghostly specters, but freshly-dead humans, Catherine knows she's right, and must uncover the secrets of the witch in the well.

Catherine's loyalty is sorely tested, when she and her family return to France after a long absence, and discover a Knight Templar has been brutally murdered in their home and someone is threatening to reveal Catherine's closely held secret about her family's Jewish roots. But Catherine never waver, neither in her own Christian faith, nor her father's Jewish faith—and ultimately it falls upon her to discover who would kill a soldier of God and why her family would be targeted in such a horrendous fashion.

When her dearest friend in the world, Astrolabe, the son of the fabled theologian Peter Abelard and Heloise, flees wrongful prosecution for the vicious murder of a young woman, Catherine’s family takes him in to hide. But there are darker forces than murder at work here. Someone wishes to use Astrolabe to complete the destruction of his father’s fame in the name of faith ,  and there are those who would see the destruction of the very order of Christian life.

The Mistress of the Art of Death

Adelia Aguillar is summoned to England to solve murders.

Adelia Aguilar is summoned to England by King Henry II to investigate a  series of brutal child
murders.

Rosamund Clifford, the mistress of King Henry II, has died an agonizing
death by poison, and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine is the prime suspect.
Second in the Adelia Aguilar, Mistress of the Art of Death, medieval
mystery series.

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NEW! Grave Goods
Author:  Ariana Franklin

Amelia investigates the finding of bones at Glastonbury.. are they King Arthur's?

The Hawkenlye Mystery Series

12th century England, starring Abbess Helewise..

It is 1157, and a young nun from Hawkenlye Abbey has been found with her throat slashed. The people of rural Kent are quick to jump to conclusions: Surely the murderer must be one of the felons released by the new king, Richard Plantagenet, as a sign of his goodness and charity. When King Richard dispatches a brave and loyal soldier of fortune, Josse d'Acquin, to investigate the shockingly brutal crime, Josse understands that his mission is to absolve the king from blame.

A grove of huge oak trees in the Wealden forest is felled. And, as if some ancient curse is being unleashed, the man who wielded the axe meets with a violent end. Abbess Helewise teams up with Josse d'Acquin to discover what really lies inside the darkness of the ancient forest.

A man from London has taken over the tavern on the main London to Hastings highway to the south of Tonbridge. He is not what he appears, and his arrival ushers in a sequence of apparently unrelated but disturbing events, whose escalating violence culminates in murder.

The serenity of Hawkenlye Abbey has been disturbed by the arrival of a new nun and her two young sisters. Recently orphaned, Alba has left her convent in Ely to take her grieving sisters from the scene of their sorrow. Abbess Helewise is not convinced of her selflessness; Sister Alba is a mean-spirited and turbulent presence. Her anxieties grow when her friend Josse d’Acquin is brought to Hawkenlye, half dead from blood poisoning.

An elderly pilgrim dies in Hawkenlye Vale. Nothing suspicious: he was gravely ill when he arrived. Meanwhile, Josse d’Acquin has a visit from Prince John. Accompanied by his seer, the Prince urgently seeks news of a stranger, Galbertius Sidonius.

Josse D’Acquin and the Abbess Helewise are appalled by the fanatical new priest, Father Micah, but are even more horrified when his body turns up by the side of the road. When it appears that a band of evangelical heretics, whom Micah condemned to the stake, might be behind his death, the Abbess is torn between her compassion for their suffering and her duty to the church.

Invited by a neighbor to meet new friends, Josse d’Acquin is struck by the beauty of the young wife and the age gap between her and her wealthy husband. But first impressions can be deceptive, and soon a tragic death sets Josse off on a trail of danger and intrigue. For in order to untangle the terrible secrets of the past, he is forced to venture to a place of bloody legend, home to a brutal race known as Deadfall. The Abbess Helewise is engaged by events closer to home. The frightful death she witnessed is terrible enough, but to have her nuns held responsible is far worse

It is February 1194. A desperately ill man is making for Hawkenlye Abbey in the hope of a miracle cure. In his delirium he sees the Virgin Mary and, sinking to his knees, he begins to pray. She is the last person he will ever see.

Abbess Helewise is struggling to keep the Abbey going through a brutal winter, fending off the starvation of her nuns and the townspeople. In the midst of this hardship, a loved one returns to Helewise after twenty years, in desperate need of help. Her son. Then a man is found strangled, dangling from a tree near the Abbey.

Autumn 1196. A secretive stranger arrives at New Winnowlands, and Sir Josse dAcquin guesses that he is a returning Crusader. Josse seeks the assistance of Abbess Helewise of Hawkenlye to have the mans injuries treated in the infirmary. But then the various demons who are on the mans trail begin to turn up, and Josse realizes that his mysterious guest has brought with him a terrible secret

Justin de Quincy

Eleanor of Aquitaine's favorite sleuth.

The first novel in this medieval mystery series introduces Justin de Quincy, who serves Eleanor of Aquitaine.

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De Quincy goes to Wales to discover who stole the ransom money sent to France to free Richard the Lionheart.

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Justin de Quincy has shed his coltish innocence. He is summoned to Paris by his former lover, Lady Claudine, who is acting on behalf of his nemesis, Prince John.

Review at That's All She Read.

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Eleanor of Wynthrope, Prioress of Tyndal

1270s.

It is late summer in the year 1270 and England is as weary as its aging king, Henry III. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs like smoke over the land. Even in the small priory of Tyndal on the remote East Anglian coast, the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevraud long for a return to tranquil routine. Their hopes are dashed, however, when the young and inexperienced Eleanor of Wynethorpe is appointed their new prioress over someone of their own choosing.

In the winter of 1271, Death stalks the corridors of Wynethorpe Castle on the Welsh border. When the Grim Reaper touches the beloved grandson of the castle lord, Baron Adam sends for his daughter, Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal, and her sub-infirmarian, Sister Anne, to save the child with prayers and healing talents. Escorting them to the remote fortress is Brother Thomas, an unwilling monk fighting his private demons.
Death may be denied once in his quest for souls but never twice. Soon after the trio arrives, an important guest is murdered. The prioress's brother, bloody dagger in hand, stands over the corpse.

As the autumn storms of 1271 ravage the East Anglian coast, Crowner Ralf finds the corpse of a brutally murdered soldier in the woods near Tyndal Priory. The dagger in the man's chest is engraved with a strange, cursive design, and the body is wrapped in a crusader's cloak. Was this the act of a member of the Assassin sect or was the weapon meant to mislead him in finding the killer.

It is May of 1272, and Prioress Eleanor, recovering from a near-fatal winter fever, returns to Amesbury Priory to visit her aunt in time for the Feast of Saint Melor. Although Eleanor hopes to regain her strength in the midst of pleasant childhood memories, Death reveals a most troublesome fondness for her company, thwarting her desire for peace.

A cooper is poisoned at the local inn. Prioress Eleanor offers to help Crowner Ralf but soon has reason to regret it. No one likes where the evidence points, but God’s justice must be rendered—even for the forsaken soul. PJR

Ian Morson

Medieval Oxford is frightening place for a raw scholarship boy. Thomas Symon stumbles on a corpse within moments of arriving but, by an amazing twist of fate, his new tutor is an amateur  sleuth well versed in Aristotelian logic. Magic, anti-semitism and closet pathology add to life's rich pattern circa 1264.  NMJ 

Falconer's Judgement

It is 1261 and Oxford is in turmoil. Pope Alexander has died in Rome, An eclipseof the sun predicted, preaching of the last judgement, and Master Falconer is struggling to decode papers he thinks are on flight, as he manoeuvre's through the pitfalls of monarchy and church to tackle his second mystery.  S.C.H

Hugh Corbett Mysteries

A functionary in King Edwad I's court is asked to solve various deadly mysteries

1284 and Edward I is battling a traitorous movement founded by the late Simon de Montfort, the rebel who lost his life at the Battle of Evesham in 1258. The Pentangle, the movement's underground society whose members are known to practice the black arts, is thought to be behind the apparent suicide of Lawrence Duket, one of the King's loyal subjects, in revenge for Duket's murder of one of their supporters. The King, deeply suspicious of the affair, orders his wily Chancellor, Burnell, to look into the matter. Burnell chooses a sharp and clever clerk from the Court of King's Bench, Hugh Corbett, to conduct the investigation.

1286 and on a storm-ridden night King Alexander III of Scotland is riding across the Firth of Forth to meet his beautiful French bride Yolande. He never reaches his final destination as his horse mysteriously slips, sending them both crashing to their death on cruel rocks. The Scottish throne is left vacant of any real heir and immediately the great European princes and the powerful nobles of Alexander's kingdom start fighting for the glittering prize. The Chancellor of England, Burnell, ever mindful of the interest his king, Edward I, has in Scotland, sends his faithful clerk, Hugh Corbett, to report on the chaotic situation at the Scottish court. Concerned that a connection exists between the king's death and those now desirous of taking the Scottish throne, Corbett is drawn into a maelstrom of intrigue, conspiracy and danger.

Edward I of England and Philip IV of France are at war. Philip, by devious means, has managed to seize control of the English duchy of Aquitaine in France, and is now determined to crush Edward. King Edward suspects that his enemy is being aided by a spy in the English court and commissions his chancery clerk, Hugh Corbett, to trace and, if possible, destroy the traitor. Corbett's mission brings him into danger on both land and at sea, and takes him to Paris, and its dangerous underworld, and then to hostile Wales.

In 1298, Edward I of England invaded Scotland and brutally sacked the town of Berwick, razing to the ground the Red House of the Flemings who had permission to trade there. He little knew his action would have far-reaching repercussions. A year later, Edward convokes a great assembly of the realm in St Paul's Cathedral. They are to hear Mass after which the main celebrant, Walter de Montfort, has been delegated to lecture the King on not taxing the Church. During the Mass, de Montfort dies a sudden and violent death. Hugh Corbett, the King's clerk, is given the task of solving the mystery and tracking down the murderer.

Investigating the death of Lady Eleanor, who had been banished in the wake of her affair with the Prince of Wales, chief clerk Hugh Corbett struggles with the deceptive plot of a killer as the number of victims increases.

In early 1302 a violent serial killer lurks in the city of London, slitting the throats of prostitutes. When Lady Somerville, one of the Sisters of St Martha, is murdered in the same barbaric fashion, her death is closely followed by that of Father Benedict in suspicious circumstances. Edward of England turns to his trusted master clerk, Hugh Corbett, to reveal the identity of the bloodthirsty assassin.

In the summer of 1302 the famous Robin of Locksley, popularly known as Robin Hood, has gone back to his outlaw ways in Sherwood Forest where he battles against royal authority, culminating in the barbarous massacre of royal tax collectors and the mysterious murder of Sir Eustace Vechey, one of the sheriffs of Nottingham.

November 1302, and Sir Hugh Corbett, Edward I's Keeper of the Secret Seal, together with his manservant, Ranulf, and messenger, Maltote, are sent to Mortlake Manor on the Norfolk coast to confront an evil rarely seen before. A man's headless corpse, its head impaled on a pole, has been found on a beach and the pretty young wife of a local baker is discovered hanging from a gallows.

1303 and the Old Man of the Mountain remembers back to when he nearly killed Edward I thirty years before. He now decides to release an imprisoned leper knight to avenge old grievances and take the King's life. A few months later two nuns are returning to their monastery in York, where they are confronted by the horrific sight of a man being consumed by fire, the sickly smell of burning flesh lingering in the air. News of the grisly death greets Edward as he arrives in York for secret negotiations with the leaders of the military Templar Order. His unease deepens when an attempt is made on his life.

The golden summer of 1303 and Oxford is plunged into chaos. The severed heads of beggars have been tied by their hair to the trees in woods outside the city. John Copsale, the Regent of Sparrow Hall, has been found dead in his bed and it is being whispered that he was murdered by the mysterious 'Bell Man'. Then the college librarian and activist, Robert Ascham is discovered with a crossbow bolt in his chest.

The death of Lord Henry Fitzalan on the feast of St Matthew, 1303, is a matter widely reported but little mourned. Infamous for his lecherous tendencies, his midnight trysts with a coven of witches and his boundless self-interest, he was a man of few friends. So when Hugh Corbett is asked to bring his murderer to justice it is not a matter of finding a suspect but of choosing between them.

In the village of Melford, a local lord is executed for a spate of vicious murders. It's not until the killing begins again, and the dead lord's son alleges that a miscarriage of justice has taken place, that a serious investigation begins. Hugh Corbett realizes that for the last five years a serial killer has terrorized the villagers.

The brothers of the abbey of St Martin's-in-the-Marsh pay little heed to the tales of robber baron Sir Geoffrey Mandeville's ghost galloping through the Lincolnshire fens with a retinue of ghastly horseman. They may hear the shrill blast of a hunting horn, or see the corpse candles glowing in the dark, but their comfortable life is protected by a high wall and their powerful abbot. Until Abbot Stephen, a friend of the King, is found dead.

The monk and scholar Roger Bacon claimed to have seen many marvels of nature and science and concealed these in a book written in an unbreakable code. Sir Hugh Corbett has been instructed to organize agents in Paris to steal this Book of Secrets. They do so but pay a violent price and the French King Philip IV now wishes a meeting between the scholars of England and France to discuss breaking the code. Edward I has no choice but to allow the meeting to take place at Corfe Castle, which becomes a place of murder and mayhem. Young women from the castle are being slain whilst horrific things are witnessed in the nearby forest. The situation becomes more serious when two of the French scholars die in sinister circumstances.

In 1300, an English privateer named 'The Waxman' was trapped and overrun by two powerful war cogs flying the streamers of the powerful Hanseatic League of North Germany. The ship was carrying a casket containing the 'Carta Mysteriosa', a collection of valuable and detailed maps and sea charts. The rulers of Europe, not to mention their merchant princes, would wade through a sea of blood to obtain them. Three years later Wilhelm Von Paulents, a representative of the Hanseatic League, comes to England. Rumors have it that he owns the sea charts and Sir Hugh Corbett is sent to negotiate with Von Paulents. But the German visitors fall ill of some mysterious ailment and then, on the morning of the fourth Sunday in Advent, Corbett is summoned to a scene of bloody mayhem and murder: Von Paulents, his wife, son and clerk have been barbarously assassinated. The 'Carta Mysteriosa' have not been stolen. So why were the murders committed and by whom?

January 1304 and Hugh Corbett, devoted emissary of King Edward I, has been charged with yet another dangerous mission. Scrope, an unscrupulous manor lord, has reneged on his promise to hand over a priceless ornate cross he stole from the Templars during the Crusades. Furthermore, he has massacred as heretics fourteen members of a religious order, whose corpses now hang in the woods near Mistleham in Essex. The King, determined to restore order, sends Corbett to Mistleham in his stead. But as Corbett reaches the troubled village, it becomes obvious that the situation has worsened. A mysterious bowman has appeared, killing townspeople at random.

Mathilde of Westminster Mysteries

During the reign of Edward II mathilde solves mysteries and Edward, Isabella and Piers Gaveston make appearances.

Owen Archer and Lucy Wilton Mysteries

The sexiest Welsh soldier in medieval fiction and the smartest apothecary team up to solve murders mostly in Edward III's York.  Chaucer even shows up in a couple books.  Nan's favorite mystery series next to her own!

The first of this series, Lucy suspects her apothecary husband is involved in a mysterious murder.

Murder and incest make for a sticky mystery to solve.

The Archbishop duels with the king's mistress, Alice Perrers.

Who killed a pensioner?

Owen and Geoffrey Chaucer accompany Lucy's father on pilgrimage.

Archer finds his loyalty's torn between his life with Lucy and his love for Wales.

2008.  Many lies. But only one truth...Winter 1372, in York: A man has drowned in the River Ouse. It soon becomes clear that his death was not an accident. But why would anyone want to kill a humble river pilot? As the crowds around the murdered man thicken, one-eyed spy Owen Archer is quickly brought to the scene by his adoptive son, Jasper. Renowned for solving many crimes, Owen is immediately drawn into the case. But right from the start he realises that it isn't a simple question of one victim, one suspect. And when a valuable cross goes missing and a woman is badly burnt in mysterious circumstances, the web of deceit widens. Then another body is found in the river. And as Owen and Jasper get closer to the truth, they find their own lives in danger...

2008, only available as an import.  At Bishopthorpe Palace, York, in September 1373, John Thoresby, the Archbishop of York, lies dying. One of the most powerful men in the country, his imminent demise has the influential families of the north vying to influence his succession. Owen Archer, Thoresby's master of the guards, is one of the few men Thoresby trusts. He is determined to ensure that his lord's last days are as peaceful as possible, but his plans are thrown into disarray when Thoresby agrees to a visit from Joan, Princess of Wales, wife of the Black Prince and mother of the young heir to the throne of England. 

PC Doherty

Margaret Frazer

The arrival of lusty, blaspheming dowager Lady Ermentrude at St. Frideswide convent in 1431 causes quite a stir, but before the obnoxious woman can get what she came for, her niece, the novice Thomasine, she is murdered.

It's not a very merry Christmas for the sisters of St. Frideswide when they welcome a troupe of actors in from the cold , and open the nunnery door to murder.

En route to a baptism, Sister Frevisse is waylaid by a band of outlaws and learns that their leader is her long-lost cousin Nicholas and that he needs her to help get him pardoned for his crimes.

Attending a funeral dinner at Ewelme Manor, Sister Frevisse and Bishop Beaufort are amazed when querulous Sir Clement Sharpe brazenly challenges God to strike him down and promptly falls down dead.

When an attempt is made on the lives of Henry VI's young half-brothers, the boys are offered sanctuary by Sister Frevisse, who is called upon for more than protection when the killers enter St. Frideswide's walls.

Visiting Minister Lovell while on pilgrimage from St. Frideswide, Sister Frevisse suspects that a mentally ill guest, who is prone to violent fits, has been framed for the murder of an innocent man.

When Domina Alys becomes prioress of St. Frideswide, the convent becomes a guest house for her disagreeable and greedy relatives, until a long-standing family feud leads to kidnapping and murder, and it is up to Sister Frevisse to find a killer and rid the convent of its unwelcome guests.

A visit at the home of Sister Frevisse's cousin Lady Alice becomes dangerous, for this home houses a secret that have turned deadly. Alice is involved in dangerous political machinations with the duc of Orleans and King Henry VI.  A private correspondence has been routed through the Suffolks' home, but now the messenger has been brutally slain.

As illness and murder cast a cloud over Prior Byfield, fear and suspicion reign-and Frevisse's keen deductions lead her closer to the disturbing truth.

Drawn from her nunnery's contemplative quiet by the domestic turmoil of a noble family, Dame Frevisse must see that justice is done when honest love and dishonest lust spawn murder.

St. Mary's nunnery is a place of prayer and healing for women, so it is surprising to see a man sprawled out in the cloister garden. Dead. The victim was not especially well-liked, even by his wife and clerk. Now, Dame Frevisse must step in and solve the killing. But her real challenge is to put aside her feelings and serve justice for the murder of an unjust man.

Reporting on the politics and plotting of the royal court for an ambitious bishop, Dame Frevisse is instead drawn into a dangerous maelstrom encircling the throne of England.

When the vicious Sir Ralph Woderove is found murdered near his estate, Dame Frevisse finds that the evil that men do sometimes does live after them.

Recently widowed and still grieving, Cristiana Helyngton finds her life wrenched apart by her late husband's greedy and ambitious relatives, who are determined to have control of her lands and her daughters. Kidnapped, defamed, and imprisoned in a nunnery, she must find a way to save herself before she can save her children.

Dame Frevisse is in London to recover gold from the coffers of the murdered Duke of Suffolk and give it to her cousin. Frevisse's co-conspirators in this secrecy are seamstress Anne Blakehall and her lover, a Jewish trader smuggling the gold through Anne's shop. But their mission is jeopardized when a crucified body is discovered, supposedly scarred with Hebrew letters, stirring up anti-Semitic sentiment in the populace.

Dame Frevisse of St. Frideswide's nunnery and wandering player Simon Joliffe are in London investigating the deaths of several noblemen who supposedly conspired with the French against England. Some of these nobles worked for the late Duke of Suffolk-and Frevisse fears that her cousin Alice, the Duke's widow, may also be targeted for assassination.

Dame Frevisse must determine whether Sister Cecely, newly returned to the nunnery with her young son, is truly interested in repenting for her sins, or if she’s just in hiding after involvement in schemes that threaten everyone at St. Frideswide.

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