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Mysteries index
Mysteries index
Mysteries index
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Matthew Bartholomew Mysteries
Susanna Gregory
CSI medieval-style.
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1 A
Plague on Both Your Houses
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $7.99
In 1348, the inhabitants of Cambridge live under the shadow of
a terrible pestilence that has ravaged Europe and is traveling
relentlessly towards England. Bartholomew, however, is distracted
by the sudden and inexplicable death of the Master of Michaelhouse,
a death University authorities do not want investigated.
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2 An
Unholy Alliance
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $7.99
In 1350, Cambridge lies ravaged by the Black Death. Crime
flourishes too—three harlots are found with slit throats and
branded feet, a friar dies rifling a strongbox full of college
chronicles, and the Vice Chancellor of the University vanishes
from his sick chamber with all its furnishings. Now the Chancellor
calls on the deductive skill of Matthew Bartholomew, Master of
Medicine.
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3 A
Bone of Contention
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $7.99
1352. The terrible legacy of the Black Death still haunts the
town of Cambridge. Fears of future outbreaks drive people to seek
protection in holy relics, while the University is the scene of
violent clashes between students and townsfolk. With rumors
spreading about the discovery of a skeleton reputed to belong to a
local martyr, a young student’s brutal murder plunges the town
into chaos.
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4 A
Deadly Brew
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $7.99
Cambridge, the winter of 1353. Torrential rains are spreading
fever to the poor and making travel especially hazardous along the
town’s outlaw–infested roads. Then three members of the
University die by drinking poisoned wine.
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5 A
Wicked Deed
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $7.99
Spring, 1353. Matthew Bartholomew, doctor of medicine and
fellow of Michaelhouse, Cambridge, is traveling with a party from
the college to accept the gift of a parish church in Suffolk. But
when the benefactor begins to unduly rush the deed to legalize the
transfer, Bartholomew senses that Suffolk is not the tranquil
retreat that he had been led to believe. And when Michaelhouse’s
student priest is found murdered in the church that was to become
his living, Bartholomew realizes that he and his party are
threatened by dark forces within the village.
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6 A
Masterly Murder
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $7.99
Cambridge, 1353. It is a gloomy November day, and a corpse is
just the beginning of the intrigue. Matthew Bartholomew recognizes
the deceased as the book–bearer of Michaelhouse Fellow John
Runham. The death looks like suicide, but before Bartholomew can
confirm it, there is a second tragedy. Meanwhile, at Michaelhouse
itself, the Master announces his retirement, to everyone’s
surprise—everyone, that is, except the ruthless Runham, who is
hastily elected. Runham demands that Bartholomew choose between
his teaching and his medical work, but as Bartholomew is agonizing
over his impossible decision, the new Master is discovered dead
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7 An
Order for Death
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $7.99
Believers in the theory of nominalism have set some Cambridge
colleges at the throats of those who believe them to be heretics,
and Brother Michael, the Senior Proctor, is struggling to keep the
peace. When a nominalist is murdered during a riot, Michael is
certain he will find the killer among the Dominicans—but before
he can act, his junior proctor, Walcote, is found hanged.
Meanwhile, Matthew Bartholomew discovers evidence that leads to
Michael himself.
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8 A
Summer of Discontent
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $7.99
Cambridgeshire, 1354, and the Bishop of Ely has been accused of
a most terrible murder. Glovere was steward to Lady Blanche de
Wake, a close relative of the King. A malicious gossip, his body
was discovered days after the Bishop had publicly threatened him.
Protesting his innocence, the Bishop summons Cambridge proctor
Brother Michael to help clear his name. When Michael and his
friend, Matthew Bartholomew, inspect the body, they realize
someone has stabbed him quite precisely in the back of the neck.
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9 A
Killer in Winter
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $7.99
Christmas approaches in 1354 and the town is gripped by the
worst blizzards in living memory. The weather has trapped many
travellers in the town, including Matthew's erstwhile love,
Philippa, and her wealthy husband. In some ways he is relieved to
accept Brother Michael's orders to identify a man found dead in a
nearby church. However, it soon comes to light that the man was
Philippa's husband's servant, and soon her husband himself is
found dead. Was it an accident, or a more sinister death?
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10 The Hand of
Justice
Author:
Susanna
Gregory
Buy
New:
$7.99
In Cambridge in 1355, the colleges of the fledgling university
are as much at odds with each other as they are with the ordinary
townsfolk. This tension has recently been heightened by the return
of two well-born murderers after receiving the King's pardon,
showing no remorse but ready to confront those who helped convict
them. And in the midst of this, Bartholomew the physician is
called to the local mill to examine two corpses. It is almost a
relief to be able to turn his back on the fractious town, but as
always in Cambridge, everything is connected.
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11 The
Mark of a Murderer
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $7.99
It is February 1355, and Oxford has exploded in one of the most
serious riots of its turbulent history. Fearing for their lives,
the scholars flee the city, and some choose the University at
Cambridge as their refuge. They don’t remain safe for long,
however—within hours of their arrival, two people have died.
When Bartholomew and Brother Michael investigate the deaths, they
uncover evidence that the Oxford riot was part of a carefully
orchestrated plot.
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12 The
Tarnished Chalice
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $9.95
On a bitter winter evening in 1356, Matthew Bartholomew and
Brother Michael arrive in Lincoln—Bartholomew to look for the
woman he wants to marry and Michael to accept an honor from the
cathedral. It is not long before they learn that the friary in
which they are staying is not the safe haven they imagine—one
guest has already been murdered. It soon emerges that the dead man
was holding the Hugh Chalice, a Lincoln relic with a curiously
bloody history.
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13 To
Kill or Cure
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $16.47
Cambridge University is in dire financial straits, the town's
landlords are demanding an extortionate rent rise for the
students' hostels and the plague years have left the colleges with
scant resources. Tension between town and gown is at a boiling
point and soon explodes into violence and death. Into this
maelstrom comes a charismatic physician whose healing methods owe
more to magic than medicine but his success threatens Matthew
Bartholomew's professional reputation, and his life.
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14 The
Devil's Disciples
Author: Susanna Gregory Buy New: $16.47
Rumors of plague threaten Cambridge again, 10 years after the
Black Death almost laid waste to the town. Neither the church nor
its priests had defended people from the disease so now they turn
elsewhere for protection, to pagan ritual and magical potions. It
is a ripe atmosphere to be exploited by the mysterious Sorcerer,
an anonymous magician whose increasing influence seems certain to
oust both civil and church leaders from power. One murder, another
unexplained death, a font filled with blood, a desecrated grave,
all bear the hallmarks of the Sorcerer's hand, only the identity
of the magician remains a mystery.
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Mysteries index
Mysteries index
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Roger the Chapman Mysteries
Kate Sedley
A peddler of notions and sundries travels about England
during Edward IV's reign. Not always an attractive
character, Roger nevertheless solves the mysteries he
encounters.
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Death
and the Chapman
Author: Kate Sedley
A rich man asks Roger to look for his son who disappeared in
London. |
The
Plymouth Clock
Author: Kate Sedley
Protecting a royal messenger
who carries a crucial secret letter, Roger the Chapman begins a
two days of dangerous adventure, and realizes that he must learn
his companion's past if they are to survive.
BLS BR 09706
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The
Weaver's Tale
Author: Kate Sedley
When the disreputable brother
of a respected nobleman is hanged for murdering a man who later
turns up alive, Roger, a fifteenth-century English peddler,
senses foul play among the gentry.
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The
Holy Innocents
Author: Kate Sedley
Roger stops in a small town to discover who killed two
children and why
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The
Green Man
Author: Kate Sedley Buy New: $19.11
Summer,1482. An English army
invades Scotland in order to put King James the Thirds renegade
younger brother, the Duke of Albany, on the Scottish throne.
Albany insists his old acquaintance, Roger the Chapman, be a
member of his personal bodyguard. But during the march
northwards, a series of sinister events, centred around the cult
figure of the mythical Green Man, makes Roger question Albanys
true motive for requesting his presence .
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The
Three Kings of Cologne
Author: Kate Sedley Buy New: $10.46
When the remains of Isabella
Linkinhorne, who disappeared twenty years earlier and was known
to have had three secret lovers, are discovered on nunnery land,
Roger the Chapman is called in. Faced with the task of tracking
down three people of whom he knows next to nothing, Roger
nicknames them Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior after the Magi the
Three Kings of Cologne
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The
Weaver's Inheritance
Author: Kate Sedley
The year is 1476, and after a
hard winter hawking his wares through the ice and rain, Roger
the Chapman is looking forward to spending Christmas in Bristol,
enjoying the warm hearth and good food of his mother-in-law
Margaret-even if it means the young widower will have to endure
her constant matchmaking. However, Margaret has barely
introduced him to her cousin Adela when Roger's attentions are
demanded elsewhere. The long-lost son of a wealthy Bristol
weaver, presumed murdered on a visit to London six years before,
has miraculously reappeared, to the delight of the old man and
to the indignation of Alison Burnett, who refuses to believe
that the bedraggled stranger is her brother Clement-the rightful
heir to half her father's fortune. When Alison's violent
objections provoke Alderman Weaver into disinheriting her
altogether, she appeals to Roger's reputation as a solver of
mysteries to prove her growing suspicions right.
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Eve
of Saint Hyacinth
Author: Kate Sedley
1475 when King Edward IV is
about to invade France, Roger learns of a plot to kill Richard
of Gloucester and tries to discover who is behind it.
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The
Wicked Winter
Author: Kate Sedley
Roger's latest journey has
taken him toward the coast, in bitter cold weather, picking up
gossip as he goes: there's much talk of the fanatical,
fire-breathing preacher Father Simeon, and, as it transpires,
Roger meets up with him as the Friar travels to Cederwell Manor.
He's been sent for by Sir Hugh Cederwell's wife Jeanette, a
pious woman with her own chapel at the top of a tower on the
Manor grounds. Roger, ever on the hunt for customers, arrives
with Father Simeon at the Manor, only to discover Lady Cederwell
dead at the foot of the tower.
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The Burgundian's Tale
Author: Kate Sedley
Roger is summoned by the Duke
of Gloucester to assist in the investigation into the murder of
the son of a lady-in-waiting to Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy,
who is on a triumphant return visit to London. It seems Roger
has no choice but to return to the dirty, crowded city, where he
soon meets a surprising number of people , royalty, servants and
workers alike ? who all have a motive for murder.
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The
Saint John's Fern
Author: Kate Sedley
It is October 1477 and Roger
the Chapman, newly married and still enjoying wedded bliss, is
surprised to find his old, familiar feeling of restlessness
returning. Within a month he is setting off, once again, on the
ancient ridge road that dissects Dartmoor and heads for
Plymouth, driven by some instinct that he is needed there.
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The
Lammas Feast
Author: Kate Sedley
It's 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.
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The
Goldsmith's Daughter
Author: Kate Sedley
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
favourite 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.
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The
Midsummer Rose
Author: Kate Sedley
Roger the Chapman is not a
superstitious man. He hears stories of murders and haunted
houses around the market town of Bristol, and chooses to believe
the more prosaic explanation every time. But when Roger is
himself attacked in the very house where a woman murdered her
violent husband thirty years previously, he is forced to admit
that something strange is going on - particularly when everybody
he encounters in the town denies seeing or hearing anything
untoward in the notorious house that stormy night. And when his
own wife refuses to believe his story, he starts to worry that
he is losing his mind. An indignant - and instinctively curious
- Roger puts his detective skills into action once again to find
out who made the attempt on his life. He soon learns more and
more about the strange old house and about the people of the
market town of Bristol, some of whom have much more to hide than
he would ever have believed.
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For
King and Country
Author: Kate Sedley
Two great forces fight for
England and one
woman is torn between them. It is 1642, and civil war is
beginning to split England in half. The dashing Cavaliers swear
loyalty to the Crown; the stern Puritans vow to risk all for
liberty and their mighty, wrathful God . The beautiful, fiery
Lilias Pride will face the hardest choice of her life. Married
to Richard Pride, MP for Bristol, she devotes her loyalty to him
and to the Puritan cause. Yet Priam Lithgow, Royalist Earl of
Chelwood, stirs her deeply, and when he falls into danger, she
risks her life to save his. With the Restoration, Lilias hopes
to flee love and peril and find safety in the New World of
America.
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The
Prodigal Son
Author: Kate Sedley
When Roger the Chapman
discovers he has a hitherto unknown half-brother, he has mixed
feelings about the matter. But when John Wedmore is accused of
being the young page who, six years earlier, robbed his mistress
and murdered a fellow servant, and is thrown into prison, Roger
feels obliged to investigate the charge.
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The
Brothers of Glastonbury
Author: Kate Sedley
Roger the traveling chapman
should be on his way home to medieval Bristol after a nice
summer's peddling. But a request from his duke to escort a bride
en route to her betrothed takes him toward Wells, where the
groom and his brother have vanished. Roger links the
disappearances to the discovery of ancient scrolls written in a
strange language. But as he deciphers the archaic tongue, he
concludes that a still-greater mystery lies at the heart of the
brothers' disappearance.
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Nine
Men Dancing
Author: Kate Sedley Buy New: $28.95
In the bitter winter of 1478,
Roger the Chapman takes to the roads once again to sell his
wares. His long-suffering wife Adela is happy to let him go, on
condition that he promises to return by the feast of St Patrick
in March. Having sold most of his goods, Roger starts on the
long road home, keen to surprise Adela by arriving home early
for once. However, on the way, he stumbles upon the tiny village
of Lower Brockhurst where he is immediately made welcome at the
village alehouse. Overhearing conversations regarding the recent
disappearance of a local girl, Roger's investigative instincts
are instantly aroused, and he determines to stay awhile in order
to try and solve the mystery. Had she really just vanished? Or
had something much more sinister taken place? But Roger soon
realizes that there is more to the girl's story than meets the
eye, and that the village harbours dark secrets that some people
would do anything to prevent being discovered.
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Mysteries index
Mysteries index
 |
Matthew Shardlake
C. J. Sansom
Matthew Shardlake a hunchbacked lawyer who works with Thomas
Cromwell
for Henry VIII.
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Dissolution
Author: Christopher J. Sansom |
Dark
Fire
Author: Christopher J. Sansom |
Sovereign
Author: C. J. Sansom Buy New: $6.49 |
Revelation
Author: C.J. Sansom |
Mysteries index
 |
Elizabeth I Mysteries
Karen Harper
A series of historical mystery novels in which Queen
Elizabeth I, aided
by a small band of trusty friends, servants, and advisors,
including Sir
William Cecil and Robert Dudley, investigates a series of
baffling
murders that punctuate her reign. Most of these are available as
hardbacks and mass market paperbacks..
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The
Poyson Garden
Author: Karen Harper Buy New: $6.99
NLS BR 13032
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The
Tidal Poole
Author: Karen Harper
NLS BR 13219
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The
Twylight Tower
Author: Karen Harper Buy New: $6.99
NLS BR 13610
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The
Queene's Cure
Author: Karen Harper Buy New: $7.99
NLS BR 14646
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The
Thorne Maze
Author: Karen Harper Buy New: $6.99
NLS BR 14758
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The
Queene's Christmas
Author: Karen Harper
NLS BR 15228
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The
Fyre Mirror
Author: Karen Harper Buy New: $6.99
NLS BR 15999
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The
Fatal Fashione
Author: Karen Harper |
The
Hooded Hawke
Author: Karen Harper Buy New: $6.99
NLS BR 17325
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Mysteries index
 |
Ursula Blanchard Mystery Series
Fiona Buckley
Blanchard, who acts as a spy and secret agent for Queen
Elizabeth I and
Sir William Cecil.
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To
Shield the Queen
Author: Fiona Buckley
In order to quell widespread
rumors about their supposed murderous intentions, Elizabeth I
and Sir Robert Dudley dispatch one of her ladies-in-waiting,
young widowed mother Ursula Blanchard, to help tend Lord
Dudley's sickly wife, Amy. Despite Ursula's friendly attentions,
Amy dies violently. Ursula's subsequent search for the murderer
of a trusted retainer uncovers evidence of Catholic scheming and
tests her love for a dashing Frenchman.
NLS RC 49538
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Queen's Ransom
Author:
Fiona
Buckley
Buy
New:
$11.25
Eager for a respite from her
role as handmaiden to Queen Elizabeth I, Ursula Blanchard agrees
to travel to France to help her first husband's father bring his
young ward home to England. But duty soon calls. Fearing that
the pro-Catholic forces threatening to tear France asunder will
spread to Protestant England, the Queen instructs Ursula to
deliver a secret letter personally to Catherine de Médicis,
offering to mediate the crisis.
Not only will the perilous journey separate Ursula from
her young daughter, it will bring her closer to a man she can
neither trust nor forget, her estranged second husband, Matthew
de la Roche, avowed Catholic and enemy of Elizabeth. As it
becomes clear that someone seeks to thwart her mission, she
realizes she can trust no one but herself, and that only she can
uncover the truth hidden in the shadows of treason, greed, and
desire that darken her way.
NLS RC 55403, DB 55403
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To
Ruin A Queen
Author: Fiona Buckley
Homesick for England,
heartsick at being separated from her young daughter, Ursula
Blanchard is struggling to build a new life in France with her
husband, Matthew de la Roche. Ursula is devastated when she
learns Meg has disappeared from the family that has fostered her
since the French civil war forced Ursula to leave her behind. A
wanted man in England, Matthew is unable to accompany her as she
frantically journeys home.
NLS RC 55400, DB 55400
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Queen
of Ambition
Author: Fiona Buckley
Ursula and her small daughter,
Meg, are at their Sussex manor house, Withysham, when Ursula is
summoned to court. The queen will soon set out on a Royal
Progress to Cambridge. But Sir William Cecil, the secretary of
state, is worried. Some students plan to welcome the queen to
Cambridge with a farcical playlet involving kidnapping and
swords. Cecil can't stop the playlet but he can send Ursula as a
harbinger to find out what's really happening. Her mission:
dress as a cookmaid and obtain a job in Roland Jester's pie
shop. The pie shop is a meeting place for students, and Roland
and his brother, Cambridge tutor Giles Woodforde. may somehow be
involved in the playlet. Working in a pie shop is a new
experience for Ursula, but it's not the work that's disturbing.
She hears students talking. She sees people whispering.
Something sinister is indeed going on, and when a young student
who is himself worried about the playlet dies in a suspicious
fall just before he is to meet with Ursula, she knows that
Cecil's fears are justified.
NLS RC 55853, DB 55853
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A
Pawn for a Queen
Author: Fiona Buckley
Ursula follows her cousin Edward to Edinburgh only to
discover he has been brutally murdered.
Read review at That's
All She Read.
NLS RC 58087, DB 58087
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The
Fugitive Queen
Author: Fiona Buckley
It's 1568, and Mary, Queen of
Scots, is Queen Elizabeth's captive. Forced to flee Scotland
after her husband, Lord Darnley, dies mysteriously, Mary is now
a "guest" at Bolton Castle in northern England, where
she plots her escape and covertly pursues her claim to her
cousin's crown. Now,
Elizabeth once again sends Ursula on a perilous and secret
mission. She must carry a confidential message from Elizabeth to
Mary, who is a woman of legendary charm and charisma. Will
Ursula, too, fall under Mary's spell? Can Ursula trust Mary's
promises? Did Mary have her husband killed? Ursula travels north
with her young daughter, Meg, and her ward, Penelope Mason.
Penelope has disgraced herself at Elizabeth's court, making
advances to a married man, and now Ursula must take her young
charge to the girl's Yorkshire estate located conveniently
close to Bolton Castle and Mary , and help her find a husband.
Surrounded by possible traitors, Ursula must make difficult and
poignant choices to serve her Queen and to save herself and
those she loves.
NLS RC 59847, DB 59847
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The
Siren Queen
Author: Fiona Buckley Buy New: $25.0
Happily
married and enjoying the life domestic, Ursula has her mind on
family matters, not court treachery, as she begins to plan a
betrothal for her young daughter Meg. When the powerful Duke of
Norfolk extends an invitation for Ursula and her family to
travel to London to meet Edmund Dean, a potential suitor,
Ursula's hopes are quickly dashed: there is something in Dean's
eyes that Ursula distrusts. Furthermore, she has also stumbled
upon a rapidly accelerating plot closing in on her dear
half-sister, Queen Elizabeth I, whom she is sworn to protect.
When murder strikes the Duke's household, and a ciphered
correspondence hints at the return of the deposed Mary, Queen of
Scots, it's up to Ursula to keep the intrigue under wraps while
racing to preserve the Queen's life.
NLS RC
61524, DB 61524
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Mysteries index
 |
Elizabethan Theater
Mysteries
Edward Marston
Now cpmpllete and in order. |
The
Queen's Head
Author: Edward Marston Buy New: $14.95
1587, and Mary, Queen of
Scots, dies by the executioner's axe, her head, shorn of its
auburn wig, rolling across the platform. Will her death end the
ceaseless plotting against Mary's red-haired cousin, Elizabeth?
1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, is a time of more terror
and triumph, not just for queen and court but for the whole of
England. The turmoil is reflected in its theatres and under the
galleries of inns like London's The Queen's Head where Lord
Westfield's Men perform. The scene there on grows even more
tumultuous when one of the actors is murdered by a mysterious
stranger during a brawl.
Nicholas Bracewell, the company's bookholder, a role far wider
than mere producer, faces two immediate repercussions. The first
is to secure a replacement acceptable to its temperamental star
-- and chief shareholder -- Lawrence Firethorn. The second is to
keep his promise to the dying Will Fowler and catch his killer.
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The
Merry Devils
Author: Edward Marston
A playwright dabbling in sorcery appears to have brought
demonic visitations on the players.
Read review at That's
All She Wrote
|
The
Trip to Jerusalem
Author: Edward Marston
London is under siege by the
Black Plague, closing its theaters and losing its frightened
citizens to the countryside. Lord Westfield’s Men decide upon
the relative safety of the road and a tour of the North. Before
they can pack up and depart, one player in the troupe is
murdered.
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The
Nine Giants
Author: Edward Marston Buy New: $13.95
The celebrated Elizabethan
theatre company known as Lord Westfield's Men is being scared
nearly to death. Then when stage manager Nicolas Bracewell pulls
a naked, mutilated corpse from the icy depths of the river
Thames, he perceives the hand of a deadly enemy, and the
terrifying shape of the future.
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The
Mad Courtesan
Author: Edward Marston Buy New: $13.95
Owen Elias is a surly, envious
Welshman, while Sebastian Carrick is an amiable and attractive
gentleman. Their onstage duels become ever more realistic, but
it is an axe that splits open Sebastian’s head one night in a
Clerkenwell alley. Company book holder Nicholas Bracewell, used
to damage control, begins to investigate the victim’s death
and learns that in life, he was prone to make enemies from his
weakness for women and his willingness to welch on debts.
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The
Silent Woman
Author: Edward Marston Buy New: $12.11
When fire destroys their
London theater, Lord Westfield's players must seek out humbler
venues in the countryside. But company manager Nicholas
Bracewell is distracted by a shocking tragedy: a mysterious
messenger from his native Devon is murdered by poison.
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The
Roaring Boy, The
Author: Edward Marston Buy New: $11.66
One member of the popular
London acting troupe has died. Their present production is a
failure. Then an anonymous playwright hands company mainstay
Nicholas Bracewell a chance for salvation: a new script that
exposes a tragic miscarriage of justice in a murder case.
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The
Laughing Hangman
Author: Edward Marston
Jonas Applegarth is a
brilliant but belligerent playwright. When his play, The
Misfortunes of Marriage, is performed by Westfield’s Men, it
causes an uproar. All of Applegarth’s enemies attack the
company. Nicholas Bracewell defends the playwright loyally but
Applegarth is then found hanged by the neck.
See review at That's All She Read
|
The
Fair Maid of Bohemia
Author: Edward Marston
When plague strikes London,
Lord Westfield's Men count themselves fortunate they've been
invited to perform as part of the wedding celebrations for
Sophia Magdalena, the fair maid of Bohemia. The long journey
across Europe is a daunting prospect but stage manger Nicholas
Bracewell is confident they will arrive safely, and confident
the mission Lord Westfield sets them to deliver secret documents
to Talbot Roydon, an English alchemist at the Imperial Court,
will go without a hitch. En route, murder strikes one of the
actors during their first performance at Flushing.
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The
Wanton Angel
Author: Edward Marston
When the Privy Council decrees
that all innyard theaters must close their doors, and only two
playhouses may continue to give performances, Nicholas Bracewell
and the theater company he manages face certain unemployment.
Soon, however, an anonymous, powerful benefactress emerges to
protect the vulnerable company. Revealing herself only to
Bracewell, she promises to finance a new theater for his group.
But soon after the foundations for the theater are laid, the
enthusiasm of Lord Westfield's Men is destroyed when one of the
troupe's rising stars is found murdered at the building site.
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The
Devil's Apprentice
Author: Edward Marston
London is in the grip of an
icy winter and Westfield's Men are out of work. Invited to
perform at a manor house in Essex, they accept willingly even
though the offer comes with two conditions: they must perform an
entirely new play and agree to take a new apprentice, Davy
Stratton, into the company. At first it seems as though Davy is
a talented and eager addition to the theater troupe. However, he
soon disrupts the group's camaraderie when he quarrels with the
other apprentices and runs away on a reconnaissance trip to
Essex.
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The
Bawdy Basket
Author: Edward Marston
Moll Comfrey is a bawdy
basket, which means the comely young woman has something more
illicit to sell than the small items she ferries. She’s also
mixed up in murder.
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The
Vagabond Clown
Author: Edward Marston
When unexpected disaster
strikes Lord Westfield's Men during a packed performance,
Nicholas Bracewell, the theater company's stage manager and all
around performer of miracles, must save the day once again. A
melee caused by disguised men is brought under control, but
before the troupe can lament their destroyed set Nick discovers
a body in the stands with a knife sticking out of it's back.
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The
Counterfeit Crank
Author: Edward Marston
Nicholas Bracewell, the book
holder for the London theater troupe Westfield's Men, has a few
problems on his hands. The troupe's playwright is ill, a gambler
is making short work of many of the actors' salaries, and their
costumes have gone missing. When Nicholas meets a pair of
troubled con artists, steering them clear of murder is almost
more than he can handle.
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The
Malevolent Comedy
Author: Edward Marston
Westfield's Men are plagued by
a series of practical jokes but, when one of their actors is
murdered, the humor turns sour. Lawrence Firethorn,
actor-manager, is stalked by a mysterious lady; the sole copy of
The Malevolent Comedy, their new play, is stolen; a leading
apprentice is abducted; and there is an attempt on the life of
patron Lord Westfield.
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The
Princess of Denmark
Author: Edward Marston Buy New: $18.21
Winter approaches and
Westfield’s Men are out of work. When their widowed patron
decides to marry again, he chooses a Danish bride with vague
associations to the royal family. Since the wedding will take
place in Elsinore, the troupe is invited to perform as guests of
King Christian IV. One of the plays they select is The
Princess of Denmark and it will prove a disastrous choice.
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Mysteries index
 |
Shakespeare
& Smythe Mysteries
Simon Hawke |
A
Mystery of Errors
Author: Simon Hawke
Two travelers, Will Shakespeare-a fledgling dramatist, and
Symington Smythe, an ostler and aspiring thespian, meet at a
roadside inn and decide to cast their lot together for fame and
fortune in the cutthroat world of the London theater in
Elizabethan England.
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The
Slaying of the Shrew
Author: Simon Hawke
Will Shakespeare, Symington "Tuck" Smythe, and
their band of thespian associates are contracted to provide
entertainment at a rural estate as part of a large wedding
pageant. When the headstrong bride turns up dead, and
overheard conversations contain conspiratorial plots against the
families involved, Will and Tuck must once again pull double
duty as thespians and sleuths.
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Much
Ado About Murder
Author: Simon Hawke
Fledgling playwright Will Shakespeare and Symington Smythe,
ostler and would-be thespian, are firmly ensconced in their
theater company. But due to the plague, all of London’s
theaters have been closed. The players are broke, and our
intrepid duo must seek employment in other lines of work Smythe
smithing and Will poeting. Then a murder rocks all of London. A
handsome young craftsman kills a wealthy merchant trader in what
was apparently an argument over the reputation of the traders
daughter, a beautiful, dark lady to whom the craftsman was
engaged.
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The
Merchant of Vengeance
Author: Simon Hawke
Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta is all the rage on the
London stage, and the young bard wishes to rise to the
competition. With companion Tuck at his side, Will makes a
sojourn for research purposes into the Elizabethan underworld,
where contracts are blood bonds and the quality of mercy is
stretched to its very limits. He becomes embroiled in a tangle
of unlucky young lovers, anti-Semitism, and rogue justice.
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Mysteries index
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Nicholas Revill and
Philip Gooden Mysteries
In Elizabethan England, the time of Shakespeare, Marlowe and
flourishing theatre culture, Nicholas Revill, actor in the Lord
Chamberlain's Men, and author Philip Gooden solve crimes. |
Mysteries index
 |
Sir
Robert Carey Mysteries by P.F. Chisholm
Sleuth Sir Robert Carey, illegitimate grandson of Henry
VIII, nephew of Elizabeth I. |
Mysteries index
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