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The Mask of Ra (1999)

Originally published on my blog here in April 2000.Many historical novelists have a period of history for which their writing seems particularly well suited. This is partly because writing a good historical novel involves a good deal of research, so that the background is most convincing when it ...

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By Murder's Bright Light (1994)

Pendant l'hiver 1379, l'Angleterre doit affronter une multitudes de troubles. Des pirates français attaquent la côte sud et menacent Londres. Sir John Cranston, le corpulent coroner de la ville, grand amateur de vin, a, lui aussi, des problèmes. Il doit non seulement juger des accusations en sorc...

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The Treason of the Ghosts (2001)

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 realises that for the last five years a ser...

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Corpse Candle (2002)

The year is 1303, and the Benedictine monks of the abbey of St. Martin's-in-the-Marsh are accustomed to a comfortable existence within their sprawling, peaceful estate. But that begins to change when Abbot Stephen, a well-respected leader and a personal friend of King Edward I, is found brutally ...

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The House of Crows (2001)

I've enjoyed all of the books in the Brother Athelstan series, and read several of Harding's (aka P.C. Doherty and other names) other mystery series, generally finding them extremely well-researched and well-written if at times a bit dry and humorless. "House of Crows" was a delight, however, wit...

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The House of the Red Slayer (1992)

I decided to give the series a second go after not really enjoying the first, and perhaps unsurprisingly, I didn't particularly enjoy the second book in this series either. I really wanted to, and tried hard, but in the end, no. I even put it down for several months before deciding to finish th...

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The Relic Murders (1997)

In the autumn of 1523, Roger Shallot, self-proclaimed physician, rogue, charlatan and secret emissary of King Henry VIII, has nothing to do. His master, Benjamin Daunbey, has been sent to Italy on a diplomatic mission, leaving him in charge of their manor outside Ipswich. Shallot, forbidden both ...

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The Waxman Murders (2007)

I'm still reading the medieval mystery series starring Hugh Corbett, although I'm almost up to date, woohoo!!! This is the 15th in the series and was another great medieval 'whodunnit', published in 2007.This time the historical fiction was set in 1300 - 1303 and the plot involved the legend of a...

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The Assassin's Riddle (1997)

It is the summer of 1380 and the corpse of Edwin Chapler—clerk of the Office of the Green Wax of the Chancery—has been pulled from the Thames. Though Chapler’s death was caused by drowning, he also received a vicious blow to the back of the head before his plunge into the river. Bartholomew Drayt...

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The Field of Blood (1999)

Some stories will fit in any setting and this is one. Let the world hear about a possible buried treasure and large numbers will set out to find and claim it, even allowing for the crown's claim on treasure trove. In fact, the crown itself in the person of John of Gaunt, the Lord Protector, might...

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The Anger of God (2001)

In autumn 1379, the power of the British crown is invested in John of Gaunt, and the kingdom is seething with discontent. The French are attacking the southern ports and peasants are planning a revolt organized by a mysterious leader who proclaims himself “IRA DEI,” the anger of God. Meanwhile Ga...

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Murder Most Holy (1993)

In the early summer of 1379 in London, Sir John Cranston, Coroner of the city, is trapped into a wager with Signior Gian Galeazzo, Lord of Cremona, who challenges him to resolve a certain murder mystery within two weeks. Men have been found dead in the scarlet chamber of one of Cremona's manors. ...

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The Horus Killings (2002)

Another murder mystery solved, but not by me :) I wondered but wrongfully gave up on who I thought it was in the beginning. You do get a little help with who the murderer is because it's never the characters that appear in all the books, it's always one of the new characters. Kind of like so of t...

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The Assassins of Isis (2006)

I'll be kind here; maybe more of a 2.5. Another in the series of ancient Egyptian mysteries featuring the astute Chief Judge Amerotke and his sidekick the dwarf Shufoy during the reign of Hatshepsut [Hatusu]. This one involves tomb robbers, murders, arson and kidnapping of four temple maidens. Th...

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An Evil Spirit Out of the West (2003)

I'm having a tough time sticking with this book. Too much of it is just not right.Why, for instance, would the pharaoh insist that only mutilated people serve his son? There was no explanation that I caught. Akhenaten was never called The Veiled One. He was given a name and called by that - it...

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A Haunt of Murder (2002)

As the sun sets, Chaucer's pilgrims find themselves lost in a Kent forest rumoured to be haunted. Huddled around the fire, trying to ignore the cries of screech owls and other, more frightening sounds of the night, the Clerk of Oxford agrees to tell a ghostly tale of love and death that will chil...

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The Nightingale Gallery (2001)

It's has been quite awhile since I last read a Paul Doherty historical mystery so I had forgotten his ability to transport magically to a specific time and place with his descriptive narrative. Sadly though, the story is set in the Middle Ages where the smell of body sweat, rotting sewage and gen...

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Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II (2003)

For good reason, the queen in chess inherits its fearsome power on the game board from the reputedly murderous maneuvers of the fourteenth-century Queen Isabella of England, as historian and biographer Paul Doherty shows in his engaging account of a savage chapter in medieval English history. Wha...

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The Grail Murders (1994)

In 1522 the rogue Roger Shallot and his sober-sided master Benjamin Daunbey are sent for by Cardinal Wolsey. Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, has been arrested for treason and Benjamin and Roger are made to witness his bloody execution. The true reason for Buckingham's downfall soon becomes apparent...

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The Anubis Slayings (2001)

Hatusu, the remarkable young widow of Pharaoh Tuthmosis II, has forced Egyptian society to acknowledge her as Pharaoh, and her success in battle is spreading Egypt's glory well beyond its frontiers. In the Temple of Anubis, Hatusu and the defeated King Tushratta of Mitanni are negotiating a peace...

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Satan's Fire (1996)

Satan’s Fire written by Paul C. Doherty and featuring Sir Hugh Corbett, a clerk in the court of Edward I of England starts when the King visits York to meet the French envoy, to discuss the terms of marriage between the King’s son and the daughter of the King of France, Phillip III. No sooner had...

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The Poison Maiden (2007)

Another Winner for the Author: Paul Doherty is the consummate storyteller and whatever subject he happens to pick to write about the books and the characters within them seem to come to life. Be it medieval England or Ancient Egypt his grasp of the subject is always first class. He has written ma...

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The Queen of the Night (2006)

a murder mystery set in Rome at the time of the Emperor Constantine! The "detective" is a young woman in the service of Constantine's mother, Helena. We get a picture of what Rome was like at the very beginning of the ascendancy of the Christian church. Two crimes which seem to be totally unrelat...

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The Song of the Gladiator (2005)

This one was a slow starter for me and then I couldn't put it down!Set in the reign of Emperor Constantine when Christianity is no longer proscribed but not yet the official religion. Young Claudia agent of Empress Helena is summoned to the imperial summer residence to solve the mystery of a stol...

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Domina (2002)

Agrippina—mother of Nero, wife of Claudius—must use her wits to stay alive. Emerging victorious in a clandestine plot to end the reign of Tiberius, she also proves to be a formidable opponent to her insanely cruel brother, Caligula. But as she rises to power as the wife of Claudius, her one weakn...

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The White Rose Murders (1993)

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. Roger Shallot is drawn into a web of mystery and murder by his close friendship with Benj...

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Murder Wears a Cowl (1992)

In early 1302 a violent serial killer lurks in the city of London, slitting the throats of prostitutes.And 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 ...

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Bloodstone (2014)

As he divested he wondered if he should escape the abbey and return to St Erconwald’s for the day. Outside in the aisle the brothers were preparing their own crib, bringing in lifelike statues and arguing about whether the abbot wanted the Three Kings immediately or should they wait until the Epi...

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House of the Red Slayer (2014)

The friar took a deep breath and sighed. He had slept well, woken early, said Office, celebrated Mass, broken fast and then swept both his house and Philomel’s stable. He had been to the cemetery. The lepers had gone and none of the graves had been disturbed. Athelstan felt pleased, even more so ...

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An Evil Spirit Out of the West (Ancient Egyptian Mysteries)

Incomparable in form! Shrouded in mystery! Yet beautiful in all your aspects.’ The Veiled One finished his prayer kneeling in the garden pavilion, face towards the rising sun. In one hand he held a water flower, in the other, swathed in a piece of linen, a pot of burning incense. His mother knelt...

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Mathilde 02 - The Poison Maiden

Vita Edwardi Secundi I grasped Demontaigu’s arm. He was pale, unshaven and unwashed, like a man who’d suffered a bad night’s sleep and a day equally as troublesome. I was not able to converse with him, but followed Spit Boy as he led us through the palace grounds down to King’s Steps. It was ear...

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The House of Shadows (2014)

She had concealed her lustrous golden hair beneath a tight-fitting hood, and put on a dark cloak to cover her finery. She had taken off her ring and placed it in the small casket beside her. The autumn night was bright with a full moon, which bathed the cemetery in a silver glow and illuminated t...

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The Midnight Man (2012)

‘Nothing is certain,’ he added wistfully. ‘Well, not in this vale of tears. No.’ He shook his head at the murmur his words created and lapsed into silence. The two Carmelites and the others had all assembled in Sir William Higden’s council chamber next to his chancery office on the second floor o...

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Hugh Corbett 12 - The Treason of the Ghosts

Only a red sanctuary lamp glowed, a small pool of light against the encroaching night. The carved face of the crucified Christ stared down whilst those of His mother and St John gazed up in anguish. The mist had seeped through crevices in the windows, under the door, slipping like steam into the ...

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The Fate of Princes

Norfolk had proved loyal; despite his age and lumbering gait, the Duke had moved swiftly and deadly as any cat. He had sent out reconnoitring parties to occupy Gravesend and the river passages across the Thames, whilst browbeating the citizens to prepare the defences of London. He had despatched ...

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Hugh Corbett 14 - The Magician's Death

Roger Bacon, Opus Maius Chapter 7 Horehound sat on the edge of the snow-fringed marsh. He was freezing and famished. He wanted to sleep and dream about a charcoal fire above which venison steaks, basted with oils and herbs, slowly roasted. He shook himself from his reverie – he had seen men of th...

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The Straw Men

He made his way around the potholes, choked with rank weeds and coarse grass which thrived in the sluggish ooze and slush left by the ebb and flow of the river. So lost in his own thoughts, he was across the bridge before he knew it. Athelstan paused, took a deep breath and made his way up toward...

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Hugh Corbett 11 - The Demon Archer

‘You don’t seem worried, Hugh.’ Corbett shrugged. ‘De Craon’s been hunting my head for years.’ ‘But this time he may intend it,’ de Warrenne put in. ‘Philip is meddling in every court in Europe. He’s made Pope Boniface VIII his virtual prisoner. We know he has spies with the rebels in Scotland an...

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The Season of the Hyaena (Ancient Egyptian Mysteries)

Like Sekhmet of the legend he pounced, breathing fire against Egypt’s enemies. Cunning as the mongoose in military matters, Horemheb struck slyly and fast, taking even his own commanders by surprise. The enemy had expected Horemheb and Rameses to move slowly north, bringing up troops from Thebes,...

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Hugh Corbett 06 - Murder Wears a Cowl

Nothing could be seen in the poor light streaming through the narrow window except the glint of the brass bodkin which the figure was pressing into a small, waxen image. The image had been carefully made: only the purest beeswax had been used, culled from candles which stood on the altars of chur...

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Mathilde 01 - The Cup of Ghosts

‘A Song of the Times’, 1272-1307 We rose and had reached the door of the chapel when the alarm was raised; a hunter’s horn wailed, a funereal sound, proclaiming chilling news. Other horns took up the call. Along the gallery outside pinpricks of light appeared, and the crash of doors being flung ...

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The Gallows Murders

King Henry VIII has moved the court to Windsor, where he slakes his lusts while the kingdom is being governed by his first minister, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Wolsey, however, is not having an easy time. Someone is sending the king threatening letters from the tower, despatched under the name and s...

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Candle Flame (2014)

‘Oh City of Dreadful Night!’ Athelstan whispered. The Dominican parish priest of St Erconwald’s in Southwark, secretarius atque clericus – secretary and clerk to Sir John Cranston, Lord High Coroner in the City of London – could only close his eyes and pray. Once again he and Sir John were about ...

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Hugh Corbett 17 - The Mysterium

He chewed the crust like some angry dog. Ranulf was laughing at him while sorting out the manuscripts on the table. He immediately told Corbett about the King’s visit. Corbett stood chewing the corner of his lip, studying Ranulf intently. His comrade nourished burning ambitions, which Edward was ...

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Roseblood

The Camelot Chamber was exquisitely decorated, and its carved mantled hearth, with a woodwose in the middle and a Robin Goodfellow face on either side, housed a merrily spitting fire. The flames crackled the pine-scented logs and illuminated the gorgeous arras that adorned the pink-plastered wall...

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A Murder in Thebes (Alexander the Great 2)

He tapped the hilt of the sword he had taken from the armory and hurried up the steps onto the curtain wall overlooking the city. Other members of the garrison were assembled there, shouting and gesticulating. The spy gazed down the rocky escarpment. The great palisade built by the Thebans so as ...

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A Brood of Vipers

He studied History at Liverpool and Oxford Universities and obtained a doctorate at Oxford for his thesis on Edward II and Queen Isabella. He is now Headmaster of a school in North-East London. He has written crime novels under other pseudonyms.Acclaim for Sir Roger Shallot's journals'Lively hist...

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Queen of the Night

The die is cast. Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars The tribesmen, the Picti, slipped through the summer darkness to gather in the pitch-black copse of trees. They had already visited the sacred stones on the summit of the Hill of Sacrifice a few miles further north, where their priest had made th...

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The Devil's Domain (2014)

He went up on to the bell tower and stared out across Southwark, watching the plumes of smoke rise from the cottages and the tannery shops. The people in the narrow streets looked like colourful insects scurrying about. On such a clear day, though the sun was hazy, he could make out the Thames an...

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The Book of Fires (2015)

He sat in the well-scrubbed kitchen of his little priest house and stared down at the elegantly written memorandum drawn up by Master Tuddenham. The Bishop’s envoy had been most thorough. He had questioned Fulchard and Richmond, his companion Fitzosbert and all relevant witnesses. He had summoned...

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Hugh Corbett 10 - The Devil's Hunt

‘What devils?’ he asked. ‘Out in the woods,’ Godric replied. ‘Dancing round Beltane’s fires! Wearing goat skins, they were!’ ‘And did you see any blood?’ Corbett asked. ‘On their hands and faces. Oh yes,’ Godric continued. ‘You see, sir, when I was greener, I was a poacher. I can go out and hunt ...

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Hugh Corbett 13 - Corpse Candle

‘A jewel on a green cushion’ was how one visitor described it. Others, who had experienced the marsh’s quagmires, treacherous byways and hidden traps, called the fens a place of wickedness. ‘The Sacristy of Hell’ was how one ancient historian described the deceitful morasses and water-logged fiel...

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Hugh Corbett 15 - The Waxman Murders

Words fail and sorrow numbs the senses. Paulinus of Aquilea Hidden behind a line of trees, Sweetmead proved to be a splendid square three-storey building of shiny black timber and pink plaster which stood on a ragstone base behind its own red-brick curtain wall. The double gate to this had been f...

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