Medieval Mystery Fiction

For centuries, the Vikings have swept out of the Norse countries and fallen on whatever lands they could reach aboard their longships, and few could resist the power of their violent onslaught. They came at first to plunder and then to settle, an encroachment fiercely resisted wherever they went. Such was the case in the southern lands of Ireland. En route to the Viking longphort there, known as Dubh-linn, Thorgrim Night Wolf and Ornolf the Restless stumble across an Irish ship.

When an unwelcome visitor arrives at Hild's monastery, Fridgyth the herb-wife is forced to hold her tongue. The widow of the fierce Mercian king, who once brought death and destruction to the coastal community, is an uneasy sight for many. Although everyone is thankful for Northumbria's fragile peace, painful memories are still fresh, and some can think of nothing but revenge. A young tanner is found dead after a mysterious liaison - his brother is nowhere to be seen, and the boy who used to help him is terrified to speak.

Eager to return to his native Norway, Thorgrim agrees to participate in one last raid under the command of a man he does not trust. But the Northmen, he finds, are no longer simply invaders on foreign soil. They have become a part of the Irish kings' ongoing struggle for power, and, far from securing a means to return home, Thorgrim and his men are plunged into a battle for the throne of Tara - a battle that will test their strength and loyalty as none has before.

Oxford, late summer, 1353. On hearing that his cousin is short-handed for the harvest, Nicholas Elyot takes a group of friends back to the family farm to help. When a deer hunt in Wychwood ends in tragedy, suspicion is directed toward the huntsman, a boyhood friend of Nicholas. But the victim has made many other enemies, any one of whom could have shot the fatal arrow. Can Nicholas uncover the real killer before it is too late?

March 1147. Assassination, espionage, betrayal. King Owain has ridden east to confront King Madog of Powys with the attempt on the life of his son. Rhys, now abbot of St. Kentigern's monastery, hopes for peace and calls both Madog and Owain to the negotiating table. Peace, however, is the last thing on Madog's mind. Recalcitrant, self-righteous, and angry, he sees King Owain's recent weakness as his opportunity and knows that Owain's own barons are circling like wolves, waiting for the chance to overthrow him.