New series, The Broken Kingdom trilogy, features friar Rodric Chandler, Lancastrian spy, sold as a child to the House of Lancaster, choosing to join the cult of St Serapion when his training in arms is done, now caught in a double game of treason.



The Night of the Wolf - Book 3

The ruthless reign of Henry IV and the clerical tyranny of Archbishop Arundel keep Brother Chandler and his friends under constant threat in this gripping medieval mystery featuring friar-sleuth Rodric Chandler.

Chester, 1400. Riding for his life, with a copy of Chaucer's heretical Canterbury Tales in his possession, friar-sleuth Brother Chandler is ambushed on the road and wakes up in a stranger's house.

Is his 'rescuer', wool merchant John Willoughby, friend . . . or foe? Willoughby declares that he, like Chandler, has renounced the self-crowned King Henry IV and will help Chandler get his dangerous belongings to safety. He seems trustworthy, but Chandler knows that if he's caught by the King's merciless censors together with the Tales, he'll be burned at the stake.

But then Willoughby's young wife perishes in a terrible accident at their house - or so it seems . . . Willoughby asks Chandler to help investigate if it was indeed an accident or if someone had a hidden agenda.

All Chandler wants to do is find safe haven for Chaucer's Tales and return to London, but he accepts the case. Little does he know that it will lead to secrets being uncovered which will put not only Chandler but also those around him in unimaginable peril.

The third novel in the Broken Kingdom Trilogy





The Day of the Serpent - Book 2

It is the year 1400.

When the royal cortege sets out, bearing the body of the murdered King Richard II from the killing grounds of Pontefract Castle, it has only travelled a few miles on the road to London before Henry's men-at-arms are being picked off one by one by a bowman with an unerring aim.

Chandler is ordered to hunt down the killer or pay the price by his Lancastrian overlord.

But if the trail leads to his friends and allies how can he betray them?

And when one of them may be the woman he loves, what then?

The rule of St Serapion is clear:

He must sacrifice himself to the fire being erected in Westminster Yard and only then can the others be free.

The second novel in the Broken Kingdom Trilogy





The Hour of the Fox - Book 1

Introducing spy-sleuth Brother Rodric Chandler in the first of a brand-new medieval mystery series.

London. July, 1399. As rumours spread that his ambitious cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, has returned from exile in France, King Richard's grip on the English throne grows ever more precarious.

Meanwhile, the body of a young woman is discovered at Dowgate sluice. When it's established that she was a novice from nearby Barking Abbey, the coroner calls in his friend, Brother Chandler, to investigate.

Who would cut the throat of a young nun and throw her body in the river?

And what was she doing outside the confines of the priory in the first place?

Secretly acting as a spy for Henry Bolingbroke, Chandler is torn by conflicting loyalties and agonising self-doubt.

As the king's cousin marches towards Wales and England teeters on the brink of civil war, Chandler's investigations will draw him into affairs of state - and endanger not only himself but all those around him.








DID YOU KNOW .....

Meaux: how to say it ...
Around the site where the great and famous Abbey of Meaux once stood people refer to it as Me-oos but in the south of England, following the pronunciation of the French mother House near Citeaux which gave the abbey its name, they say Mow to rhyme with hoe. I know which I prefer - but I leave it up to you!



If you'd like to read some of my articles and book reviews you can find them on www.historicalnovelsociety.org
and in BBC History Magazine on historyextra.com.

The fabulous Dufay Collective playing a salterello from their latest cd A L'Estampida.