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Authors Q - Z

Authors A - G

A BONE OF CONTENTION

Susanna Gregory
Vol. 3: A BONE OF CONTENTION
In 1352 fear of the Black Death still hangs over the town. Fears of a further outbreak drives people to seek protection in the power of holy relics, while the University is once again the scene of violent clashes between students and townsfolk. As a teacher, Matthew Bartholomew has a professional interest in order returning to the streets.
With rumours spreading about the discovery of a skeleton reputed to belong to a local martyr, a skeleton the physician confirms as human, a young student's brutal murder plunges the town into chaos, and Bartholomew must ask himself if the two corpses - and the rioting - are linked to something deeper than local emnities.
506 pages, paperback
Condition: good

A BROOD OF VIPERS

Paul Doherty
A BROOD OF VIPERS
In 1523, Cardinal Wolsey's "beloved" nephew, Benjamin Daunbey, and the latter's rapscallion servant, Roger Shallot, are summoned to London. A Florentine envoy, Francesco Abrizzi, has been murdered, shot in the head by a new-fangled cannon and King Henry is determined to unmask the perpetrators of this outrage.
In London, Shallot experiences King Henry's rage, the insults of the Abrizzis and a murderous attack on his own life. Shallot, a born coward, just wants to crawl away and hide, but the King and Wolsey are most insistent: Shallow and Benjamin are to journey to Florence, discover the identity of Abrizzi's assassin, and inveigle back to England a Florentine painter. It sounds simple enough - but the reality is murderously different.
245 pages, paperback
Condition: good

A MASTERLY MURDER

Susanna Gregory
A MASTERLY MURDER
Michaelhouse is in uproar: Kenyngham has announced his retirement and, with unseemly haste, Runham arranges his own "election" as successor. Matthew has many patients to divert his attention, but when Runham is murdered, although mourned by none, Matthew knows he must solve the mystery.
560 pages, paperback
Condition: mint

A MURDER IN THEBES

Anna Apostolou
A MURDER IN THEBES
Never try to fool Alexander the Great... or betray him. The Thebans tried, and he burned their great city to the ground. But he left the temple of Oedipus untouched, hoping to obtain the legendary crown inside which could give him divine status. But first, he must discover the ancient secret to crossing the pits of fire and poisonous snakes surrounding it.
Once again, he calls upon his friends Miriam and Simeon but they are soon faced by another baffling puzzle. An old soldier, alone inside a locked room and guarded by a ferocious dog has been murdered. But how? The clues point to a traitor among Alexander's men. Now, amid the agonies of war and the ashes of Thebes, Alexander needs answers, and fast, before his own life becomes just another Greek tragedy.
226 pages, paperback
Condition: good

A TAPESTRY OF MURDERS

Paul Doherty
A TAPESTRY OF MURDERS
Chaucer's pilgrims, quarrelling amongst themselves, are now in open coutryside enjoying the fresh spring weather as they progress slowly toward Canterbury. A motley collection of travellers, they each have their dark secrets, hidden passions and complex lives. As they shelter in a tavern from a sudden April shower, they choose the Man of Law to narrate the next tale of fear and sinister dealings.
In August 1358, the Dowager Queen Isabella, mother of King Edward III, the "She Wolf of France", who betrayed and destroyed her husband because of her adulterous infatuation for Roger Mortimer, lies dying of the pestilence in the sombre castle of Castle Rising, where her "loving" son has kept her incarcerated. According to the Man of Law, Isabella dies and her body is taken along the Mile End Road and laid to rest in Greyfriars next to the mangled remains of her lover. Nevertheless, as in life so in death Isabella causes intrigue, violence and murder. Nicholas Chirke, an honest young lawyer, is brought in to investigate the strange events following her death and quickly finds himself at his wits' end trying to resolve the mysteries before a great scandal unfolds.
245 pages, paperback
Condition: good

A TOURNAMENT OF MURDERS

Paul Doherty
A TOURNAMENT OF MURDERS
The pilgrims are sheltering in a friary and as they settle for the night, the Franklin narrates a mysterious, bloody tale - a true story, he suggests, which not only affects his own life, but the lives of some of his fellow pilgrims.
In 1356 the lack prince has won his resounding victory at Poitiers. However, in that bloody fight, the impoverished knight Gilbert Savage received his death wound. As Gulbert lies dying in a ditch he tells his squire, Richard Greenele, that the story of his parents perishing during the plague is untrue. Richard, if he wishes to uncover what really happened, must travel to Colchester and seek out the lawyer Hugo Coticol who holds a sealed letter telling the truth of Richard's parentage and the dreadful secrets surrounding his father's disgraceful death.
This document surprisingly contains a most macabre confession and Richard finds himself a small step closer to discovering the truth - a bloody and heinous tale of duplicity and murder. And one which compels him to avenge his father's name.
249 pages, paperback
Condition: good

A WICKED DEED

Susanna Gregory
A WICKED DEED
It is spring 1353, and Matthew Bartholomew is a reluctant member of the deputation of scholars, priests and students making its way to the village of Grundisburgh. As fine weather lures hordes of outlaws onto the hazardous roads, riding the short distance into Suffolk remains a treacherous exercise. But the lord's gift of the parish church to their Cambridge college is an event to justify such dangers.
But when the benefactor begins to unduly rush the dded to legalise the transfer, Bartholomew senses that rural Suffolk is not the tranquil retreat he had been led to believe. And when Michaelhouse's student-priest is found murdered in the church which was to become his living, Bartholomew realises he and his party are threatened by dark forces abroad in the village. Compelled to investigate, he descends into a nightmarish world of superstition, conflict and heresy.
506 pages paperback
Condition: mint

AN ANCIENT EVIL

Paul Doherty
AN ANCIENT EVIL
As the travellers gather in the Tabbard Inn at the start of pilgrimage to pray before the blessed bones of St Thomas a Becket in Canterbury, they agree eagerly to mine host Harry's suggestion of amusing themselves on each day of their journey with one tale and each evening with another - but the latter to be a of mystery, terror and murder. The Knight begins that evening: his tale opens with the destruction of a sinister cult at its stronghold in the wilds of Oxfordshire by Sir Hugo Mortimer during the reign of William the Conqueror and then moves to Oxford some two hundred years later where strange crimes and terrible murders are being committed. The authorities seem powerless but Lady Constance, Abbess of the Convent of St Anne's, believes the murders are connected with the legends of the cult and she petitions the King for help.
As the murders continue unabated, special commissioner Sir Godfrey Evesden and royal clerk Alexander McBain uncover clues that lead to a macabre world sect, which worships the dark Lord. But they can find no solution to a series of increasingly baffling questions and matters are not helped by the growing rift between Sir Godfrey and McBain for the hand and favour of the fair Lady Emily.
248 pages, paperback
Condition: good

AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE

Susanna Gregory
AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE
In 1350 the people of Cambridge are struggling to overcome the effects of the Black Death. Bands of outlaws roam the land and the high death rate among priests and monks has left the people vulnerable to sinister cults that have grown up in the wake of the plague.
At Michaelmas Matthew Bartholomew is training new physicians to replace those who died of the pestilence. When the body of a friar is found in the massive chest where the University stores its most precious documents. Bartholomew is dragged away from his teaching to investigate. But the friar's is not the only unexplained death in the town.
408 pages, paperback (Warner Books, 1999)
Condition: good

GHOSTLY MURDERS

Paul Doherty
GHOSTLY MURDERS
It is now the turn of the poor Priest to narrate his mysterious tale of ancient evil, greed, devilish murder and chilling hauntings.
Young Philip Trumpington, newly appointed parish priest of Scawsby in Kent, is accompanied to his post in the pleasant, prosperous village by his brother Edmund and their close friend, stonemason Stephen Merkle. They soon secure permission to pull down the ancient church and build a new one outside the village at a place called High Mount. However, the old church and its graveyard harbour shocking secrets.
Years earlier a group of Templars had been brutally massacred out on the marshes. Their attackers were led by a former vicar of Scawsby, Romenal, a warlock and sorcerer. Philip soon discovers the church is haunted by "The Watchers" and the villagers are scarred by the grim past and a terrible curse. Philip realises that there is a great and ancient evil which must be brought into the light and reparation made. But the price is great and takes the poor Priest and his brother, the Ploughman, to Canterbury to pray before the "blissful bones" of St Thomas a Becket.
250 pages, paperback
Condition: good

THE ALIENIST

Caleb Carr
THE ALIENIST
New York City doesn't change much. A century ago it was plagued by many of the same ills one sees today: hypocrisy in high places, police corruption, and a brutal serial killer terrorising young male prostitutes.
Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt has singularly failed to arrest the murderer. A man of charisma and vision, he decides to set aside his doubts and call in the one man who might be able to help -- Dr Laszlo Kreizler, one of the most respected of the alienists, those who specialised in the treatment of the mentally ill. "The Alienist isn't only an ingenious thriller. Carr brings enormous gusto to his portrait of New York ... the city seems to rise off the page" -- The Independent.
534 pages, paperback
Condition: good

THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS

Caleb Carr
THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS
In the sweltering summer of New York in 1897 a headless corpse bobs on the surface of the Hudson river. The US is poised for war in Spain. And the child of a high-ranking enemy diplomat goes missing. It is another delicate case for Dr Laszlo Kreizler, the renowned psychiatrist, in this follow-up to the highly successful The Alienist.
808 pages, paperback
Condition: good

THE GALLOWS MURDER

Paul Doherty
THE GALLOWS MURDER
In the summer of 1523, the weather has turned hot and the sweating sickness has returned to London to provide a fertile breeding ground for terrible murders and the most treasonable conspiracies. King Henry VIII has moved the court to Windsor where he slakes his lusts whilst the kingdom is governed by his minister, Cardinal Wolsey.
Wolsey, however, is not having an easy time. Someone is sending the King threatening letters for the Tower, despatched under the name and seal of Edward, one of the princes supposedly murdered there. Henry is truly terrified and also intrigued by the mysterious and grisly murders occurring amongst the hangmen of London whose Guild also happens to meet in the tower.
Wolsey's nephew and his faithful servant, Roger Shallot, are sent to unmask the blackmailer and end the macabre murders. When King Henry threatens that, unless the mysteries are solved, Shallot will hang from the highest scaffold in the kingdom, the pressure mounts for Benjamin and Roger to find the answers, whether they be in London's foul alleys or amongst the gorgeous splendour of the Tudor court.
246 pages, paperback
Condition: good

THE HOUSE OF DEATH

Paul Doherty
THE HOUSE OF DEATH
It is the year 334 BC and the young Alexander sits with his troops by the Hellespont, poised to attack the empire of the mighty King Darius III. To win the approval of the gods for his expedition, he makes many offerings, yet the smoke does not rise and the sacrificial animals are tainted. His troubles multiply as his guides are brutally murdered, Persian spies succeed in infiltrating the camp, and his generals pursue secret ends their own.
Into this turmoil comes Telamon, a physician, and boyhood friend of Alexander. As the climax builds, the young conqueror throws off his nervous fears, winning a bloody but brilliant triumph over the Persians, and Telemon too must gather all his courage to unmask the enemies within the camp.
276 pages, paperback (Robinson, 2001)
Condition: good

THE STRANGE DEATH OF MISTRESS COFFIN

Robert J Begiebing
THE STRANGE DEATH OF MISTRESS COFFIN
Based on an actual unsolved murder: it is New England 1648 and a young woman has been found dead, her violated body stripped naked and thrown in a river. Her husband, a reclusive and learned man, has mysteriously halted proceedings against the most likely suspect, who has fled. The elders call on a young Englishman, Richard Browne, to discover the truth about what happened. But the more he learns, the more puzzling the crime becomes, and the more he finds himself drawn to the wife of the missing suspect.
236 pages, paperback
Condition: good

THE WHITE ROSE MURDERS

Michael Clynes
THE WHITE ROSE MURDERS
In 1517 the English armies have defeated and killed James IV of Scotland at Flodden and James's widow-queen, Margaret, sister to Henry VIII, has fled to England, leaving her crown under a Council of Regency.
Shallot is drawn into a web of mystery and murder by his close friendship with Benjamin Daubeney, the nephew of Cardinal Wolsey. Benjamin and Roger are ordered into Margaret's household to resolve certain mysteries as well as to bring about her restoration to Scotland.
They begin by questioning Selkirk, a half-mad physician imprisoned in the Tower. He is subsequently found poisoned in a locked chamber guarded by soldiers. The only clue is a poem of riddles. However, the poem contains the seeds for other gruesome murders. The faceless assassin always leaves a white rose, the mark of Les Blancs Sangliers,a secret society plotting the overthrow of the Tudor monarchy ...
244 pages paperback (Headline, 1991)
Condition: good

A DEADLY BREW

Susanna Gregory

A DEADLY BREW

The winter of 1353 brings new confusion to the people of Cambridge. Torrewntial rains spread fever to the poor and make travelling hazardous along the town's outlaw-infested roads. Then three members of the University die by drinking poisoned wine. Is this another college conspiracy, or a new period of hostility between town and gown?

The bottles of poisoned wine are circulating through knowing and innocent hands. Matthew Bartholomew would rather not get involved in the investigation, but when the physician's life is threatened he realises he has become a target for people who have more than robbery on their minds, and he stumbles upon criminal activities that not only implicate his relatives, friends and colleagues, but also mix commercial greed and academic intrigue into a deadly brew of evil intent.

455 pages paperback (Warner Books, 1999)

Condition: good

THE BEARKEEPER'S DAUGHTER

Gillian Bradshaw

THE BEARKEEPER’S DAUGHTER

Theodora, beautiful, brilliant and powerful consort to the Emperoro Justinian, conceals her relationship with John, son of Diodoros, but sponsors his employment in the heart of the palace bureaucracy. And John, gifted and popular, with Theodora as patron and the eunuch Narses as tutor, rises fast through the tangled politics, nepotism and frontier warfare of glittering, corrupt Constantinople.

But every advance makes John’s secret more dangerous as he treads an ever-narrowing path between Theodora’s favour, Justinian’s jealousy and his own impolitic love.

310 pages paperback (Penguin, 1989)

Condition: has faded page edges and owner’s signature