Susanna Gregory Books In Order

Alec Lonsdale Books In Publication Order

  1. Mind of a Killer (2018)
  2. Watchers of the Dead (2019)

Matthew Bartholomew Books In Publication Order

  1. A Plague on Both Your Houses (1996)
  2. An Unholy Alliance (1996)
  3. A Bone of Contention (1997)
  4. A Deadly Brew (1998)
  5. A Wicked Deed (1999)
  6. A Masterly Murder (2000)
  7. An Order for Death (2001)
  8. A Summer of Discontent (2002)
  9. A Killer in Winter (2003)
  10. The Hand of Justice (2004)
  11. The Mark of a Murderer (2005)
  12. The Tarnished Chalice (2006)
  13. To Kill or Cure (2008)
  14. The Devil’s Disciples (2008)
  15. A Vein of Deceit (2009)
  16. A Killer of Pilgrims (2010)
  17. Mystery in the Minster (2011)
  18. Murder by the Book (2012)
  19. The Lost Abbot (2013)
  20. Death of a Scholar (2014)
  21. A Poisonous Plot (2015)
  22. A Grave Concern (2016)
  23. The Habit of Murder (2017)
  24. The Sanctuary Murders (2019)
  25. The Chancellor’s Secret (2021)

Medieval Murderers Books In Publication Order

  1. The Tainted Relic (2005)
  2. Sword of Shame (2006)
  3. House of Shadows (2007)
  4. The Lost Prophecies (2008)
  5. King Arthur’s Bones (2009)
  6. The Sacred Stone (2010)
  7. Hill of Bones (2011)
  8. The First Murder (2012)
  9. The False Virgin (2013)
  10. The Deadliest Sin (2014)

Sir Geoffrey Mappestone Books In Publication Order

  1. Murder in the Holy City (1998)
  2. A Head for Poisoning (1999)
  3. The Bishop’s Brood (With: ) (2003)
  4. The King’s Spies (2004)
  5. The Coiners’ Quarrel (2004)
  6. Deadly Inheritance (2009)
  7. The Bloodstained Throne (2010)
  8. A Dead Man’s Secret (2011)

Thomas Chaloner Books In Publication Order

  1. A Conspiracy of Violence (2006)
  2. Blood on the Strand (2007)
  3. The Butcher of Smithfield (2008)
  4. The Westminster Poisoner (2009)
  5. A Murder on London Bridge (2009)
  6. The Body in the Thames (2010)
  7. The Piccadilly Plot (2012)
  8. Death in St James’s Park (2013)
  9. Murder on High Holborn (2014)
  10. The Cheapside Corpse (2015)
  11. The Chelsea Strangler (2016)
  12. The Executioner of St Paul’s (2017)
  13. Intrigue in Covent Garden (2019)
  14. The Clerkenwell Affair (2020)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. The Murder House (As: Simon Beaufort) (2013)
  2. The Killing Ship (As: Simon Beaufort) (2016)

World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories Books In Publication Order

  1. The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 1 (2000)
  2. The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 2 (2000)
  3. The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 3 (2002)
  4. The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 4 (2003)
  5. The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 5 (2004)

Anthologies In Publication Order

  1. The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 3 (2002)

Alec Lonsdale Book Covers

Matthew Bartholomew Book Covers

Medieval Murderers Book Covers

Sir Geoffrey Mappestone Book Covers

Thomas Chaloner Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories Book Covers

Anthologies Book Covers

Susanna Gregory Books Overview

A Plague on Both Your Houses

A Plague on Both Your Houses introduces physician Matthew Bartholomew, whose unorthodox but effective treatment of his patients frequently draws accusations of heresy from his more traditional colleagues. Besides his practice, Bartholomew teaches medicine at Michaelhouse, part of the fledgling University of Cambridge. 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. His pursuit of the truth leads him into a complex tangle of lies and intrigue that forces him to question the innocence of his closest friends, even his family. And then the Black Death finally arrives.

An Unholy Alliance

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. Busy enough already with the teaching and practice of new techniques, Bartholomew welcomes the investigative help of portly Brother Michael a shrewd and merry monk, not unduly shocked by sins of the flesh. And soon from an exotic poison to a surge of devil worship, from a grisly exhumation to a sweetheart’s dying words they are on a tangled and perilous trail of conspiracy and obsession.

A Bone of Contention

In 1352, the terrible legacy of the Black Death still looms over the town of Cambridge, where hysteria and superstition are prevalent. Meanwhile, Matthew Bartholomew, teacher and public physician, is thrown into the heat of a baffling mystery as he’s called to the King’s Ditch to examine the corpse of a young student. His task is complicated by the discovery of a skeletal hand in the ditch wearing a ring identical to that of the student. The town is plunged into chaos as a respected university professor falls under suspicion and Bartholomew’s investigation has the academic community bristling. Piece by piece the good doctor begins to exhume a chilling conspiracy that lay hidden for three decades a deadly scheme that could tear the town asunder. In the tradition of Ellis Peters, A Bone of Contention continues the fascinating chronicles of Susanna Gregory’s charismatic medieval sleuth.

A Deadly Brew

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. College physician Matthew Bartholomew would rather not get involved in the investigation, but when his life is threatened, he stumbles on criminal activities that implicate friends, relatives, and colleagues A Deadly Brew of evil intent.

A Wicked Deed

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. Compelled to investigate, he descends into a nightmarish world of superstition and heresy.

A Masterly Murder

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

An Order for Death

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. Unable to believe his lifelong friend could be capable of such acts, Bartholomew knows that the only way he can quiet his own conscience is to solve the murders himself.

A Summer of Discontent

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. When two similar murders are discovered, it is clear that whoever the murderer is, he is getting better and better at his modus operandi

A Killer in Winter

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?

The Hand of Justice

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.

The Mark of a Murderer

February 1355. Oxford explodes 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, the first of them dies, followed quickly by a second. When Bartholomew and Brother Michael investigate the deaths, they uncover evidence that the Oxford riot was part of a carefully orchestrated plot. With the Archbishop of Canterbury about to honor Cambridge with a visitation, and a close colleague accused of a series of murders Bartholomew is certain he didn’t commit, the race is on to bring a ruthless killer to justice.

The Tarnished Chalice

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. Bartholomew and Michael are soon drawn into a web of murder, lies, and suspicion in a city where neither knows who can be trusted.

To Kill or Cure

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.

The Devil’s Disciples

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. A mystery which Matthew Bartholomew must solve before he loses his reputation…
and his life.

A Vein of Deceit

Despite a new influx of well heeled students, Michaelhouse has suffered from an acute lack of funds that has made itself manifest in a lack of decent provisions. It is only when the Brother in charge of the account books dies unexpectedly that an explanation is revealed: large amounts of money had been paid for goods the college never received. Although shocked by this evidence of fraud, Matthew Bartholomew is more concerned with the disappearance of a quantity of pennyroyal from his herbarium. Pennyroyal is known to cause a woman to miscarry, and a pregnant visitor to his sister’s household has died from an overdose of the substance. Had she meant to abort her child, or had someone else wanted to ensure that she was unable to provide an heir to her husband’s wealthy estates? When Matthew learns that it was the dead woman’s husband who had received Michaelhouse’s missing money, he begins to search for other connections and quickly exposes a deep and treacherous conspiracy.

A Killer of Pilgrims

When a wealthy benefactor is found dead in Michaelhouse, Brother Michael and Matthew Bartholomew must find the culprit before the college is accused of foul play. At the same time, Cambridge is plagued by a mystery thief, who is targetting rich pilgrims. Moreover, pranksters are at large in the University, staging a series of practical jokes that are growing increasingly dangerous, and that are dividing scholars into bitterly opposed factions. Bartholomew and Michael soon learn that their various mysteries are connected, and it becomes a race against time to catch the killer thief before the university explodes into a violent conflict that could destroy it forever.

Mystery in the Minster

The 17th episode in the popular Cambridge series of medieval mysteries, featuring the physician sleuth, Matthew Bartholomew In 1358 the fledging college of Michaelhouse in Cambridge is in need of extra funds. A legacy from the Archbishop of York of a parish close to that city promises a welcome source of income. However, there has been another claim to its ownership and it seems the only way to settle the dispute is for a deputation from Michaelhouse to travel north. Matthew Bartholomew is among the small party which arrives in the bustling city, where the increasing wealth of the merchants is unsettling the established order, and where a French invasion is an ever present threat to its port. But soon he and his colleagues learn that several of the Archbishop’s executors have died in unexplained circumstances and that the codicil naming Michaelhouse as a beneficiary cannot be found.

The Tainted Relic

A spellbinding collaboration from six masters of the medieval mystery. In five interlinked chronological tales and a prologue, a brilliant cast of medieval sleuths pursues the bloody mystery of a relic both powerful and cursed a fragment of the True Cross.

July, 1100: Jerusalem has fallen to the Crusader armies, the Holy City lies ransacked. Amidst the chaos, an English knight named Geoffrey Mappestone is entrusted with a precious religious relic: a piece of the True Cross, allegedly stained with the blood of Christ. The relic is said to be cursed: anyone who touches it will meet a gruesome end as soon as it leaves their possession. Several decades pass, and the Cross turns up in the possession of a dealer robbed and murdered en route to Glastonbury. Investigating the death, Bernard Knight’s protagonist, Crowner John, learns of the relic s dark history. Oxford, 1269: the discovery of a decapitated monk leads Ian Morson s academic sleuth William Falconer to uncover a link to the relic. Exeter, 1323. Michael Jecks Sir Baldwin Furnshill has reason to suspect the relic s involvement in at least five violent deaths. Thirty years on, suspicious deaths occur in Cambridge during a contentious debate about Holy Blood relics. Once more, as Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael are to discover, The Tainted Relic has a crucial part to play. Finally, the relic is dispatched to London, where it falls into the hands of an unscrupulous book dealer and where Philip Gooden s Nick Revill will determine its ultimate fate. An enthralling read, perfect for mystery lovers, history buffs, or anyone who appreciates an intricately plotted tale.

Sword of Shame

The Latin inscription carved on the gleaming blade read He who lives in falsehood slays his soul; he who lies, his honor. If only they had known how true those words would prove to be. The Sword of Shame was lovingly crafted by a Saxon swordsmith shortly before the Norman invasion, and its constant companions are treachery and deceit. From the Norman Conquest of 1066, to an election rigging scandal in 13th century Venice, to the bloody battlefield of Poitiers in 1356 at the heart of every treasonous plot, every murder and betrayal, is the malign influence of the cursed sword. And as it pas*ses from owner to owner, ill fortune and disgrace befall all who wield the deadly blade. The Medieval Murders are Philip Gooden; Susanna Gregory, author of the Matthew Bartholomew series; Michael Jecks, author of the Templar series; Bernard Knight, author of the Crowner John series; and Ian Morson, author of the Falconer mystery series.

House of Shadows

Bermondsey Priory, 1114: A young chaplain succumbs to the temptations of the flesh and suffers a gruesome punishment. From that moment the monastery is cursed and over the next 500 years, murder and treachery abound inside its hallowed walls. A beautiful young bride found dead two days before her wedding; a ghostly figure warns of impending doom; there is a plot to depose King Edward II; all the while mad monks and errant priests abound. Even the poet Chaucer finds himself drawn into the dark deeds and violent death which pervade this unhappy place.

The Lost Prophecies

575 AD: A baby is washed up on the Irish coast and is taken to the nearest abbey. He grows up to become a scholar and a monk, but, in early adulthood, he appears to have become possessed, scribbling endless strange verses in Latin. When the Abbott tries to have him drowned, he disappears. Later, his scribblings turn up as the Book of Bran, his writings translated as portents of the future. Violence and untimely death befall all who come into the orbit of this mysterious book.

King Arthur’s Bones

The bones of the legendary king are secreted throughout the centuries in the fifth volume from the acclaimed Medieval Murderers

During excavation work at Glastonbury Abbey in the year 1191, an ancient leaden cross is discovered buried several feet below the ground. Inscribed on it are the words hic iacet sepultus incli*tus rex arturius: here lies buried the renowned King Arthur. Beneath the cross are two skeletons. Could these really be the remains of the legendary King Arthur and his queen, Guinevere? As the monks debate the implications of this extraordinary discovery, the bones are spirited away by the mysterious Guardians, a group determined to keep King Arthur’s remains safe until the legend is fulfilled and he returns to protect his country in the hour of its greatest need. As the secret of the bones’ hiding place is passed from generation to generation, those entrusted to safeguard the king’s remains must withstand treachery, theft, blackmail, and murder in order to keep the legend intact.

The Sacred Stone

A mysterious meteor brings treachery, discord, and violent death to those who seek to possess it in the sixth volume of these thrilling interlinked medieval mysteries 1067. In the desolate wastes of Greenland, a band of hunters stumble across a strangely shaped object which has fallen from the sky. At first, the mysterious ‘sky stone’ seems to bring them good luck, healing a lame boy and guaranteeing a good catch of furs. But violence and murder soon follow in fortune’s wake as the villagers fight and struggle among themselves to gain control of the precious stone. Over the next 600 years, the Sky Stone falls into the hands of crusading knights, the wicked Sheriff of Devon, a group of radical young kabbalists, the dying King Henry III, and a band of traveling players.

Murder in the Holy City

In 1097 the Pope appealed to all virtuous and God fearing men to join the Crusade to wrest Jerusalem from the Infidel. But by 1100, Sir Geoffrey Mappestone is one of the few kings who has survived the harrowing journey, the battle to take the city, and the political infighting over the rule of the kingdom. Upon returning to Jerusalem one day following an exhausting desert patrol, Geoffrey hears screams coming from the house of a Greek baker and discovers that one of his closest friends, a fellow knight, has been murdered in the woman’s bedchamber. But this is not the first suspicious death in the city other knights and priests have also been killed, and all, it is discovered, with the same type of curved dagger with a jeweled hilt. Ordered to investigate the deaths by his liege lord, Prince Tancred, Geoffrey realizes too late that they are somehow part of a plot to topple the most formidable lords from their uncertain hold on power. It is not long before he finds himself drawn into dire straits involving some of the most dangerous men in the city and learns that his closest friends could also be his deadliest enemies.

A Head for Poisoning

The second book in the critically acclaimed mystery series featuring Sir Geoffrey Mappestone In the year 1101, disgusted with the political bickering among the lords who rule the Holy City, Sir Geoffrey Mappestone returns to his home at Goodrich Castle on the Welsh border. He is travelling in the company of a knight who claims to be carrying an urgent message for King Henry I. When the knight is killed during an ambush, Geoffrey feels obliged to deliver the message to the King himself, but quickly regrets his decision when the King orders him to spy on his own family in order to ferret out a dangerous traitor. Geoffrey returns home to find his father gravely ill and his older brothers and sister each determined to inherit the Mappestone estate. And they are not the only claimants for the lands that will soon fall vacant the powerful and sinister Earl of Shrewsbury has an acquisitive eye on them, as does their volatile Welsh neighbor, Rhodri of Llan Martin. Geoffrey’s father claims he is being poisoned by one of his own children, a claim no one takes seriously until he is found murdered with his own knife in the dead of night. Geoffrey’s investigation of the murder, however, takes him far beyond a family quarrel. Accusations are flying, and Geoffrey must prove his own innocence in the face of greed and fear. The dodgy Earl of Shrewsbury is clearly implicated, and as Geoffrey delves deeper, he discovers a plot that reaches far beyond the realm of Goodrich Castle to that of the entire kingdom: the assassination of the King.

The Bishop’s Brood (With: )

A Sir Geoffrey Mappestone mystery Southampton 1070: Sir Geoffrey Mappestone and his loyal friend Roger seek passage on one of the many ships due to sail to Normandy and then on to the Holy Land. The two knights have been away from the Crusade too long, and are itching to get back to the action. But peculiar things have been happening in the harbour town, and it soon becomes evident that someone is trying to keep Geoffrey and Roger from boarding one of the ships. When Geoffrey’s dim witted servant is killed by a deadly arrow that was clearly meant for the knight himself, Sir Geoffrey’s fury is such that he would do anything to find the murderer. But then Ranulf Flambard who is not only the Bishop of Durham and an escapee from the Tower of London, but also happens to be Roger’s father arrives in Southampton with an errand for his son to perform. Much against Geoffrey’s better judgement, the pair set off for the northern town of Durham, where a magnificent cathedral is being built at Flambard’s behest. As yet more arrows fly Geoffrey’s way, the knight begins to realize that none of these events are random, and it is down to him to discover the connection between the two towns, Bishop Flambard and a handful of red stained arrows.

The King’s Spies

A Sir Geoffrey Mappestone mysteryMarch 1102, and Robert de Belleme, the Black Earl of Shrewsbury, is summoned to appear before King Henry’s Easter Court, to answer for siding with the King’s older brother, the Duke of Normandy, in an attempt to steal the King’s throne. Meanwhile, in the crowded and dangerous streets of Southwark, south of the river Thames, Crusader Knights Sir Geoffrey Mappestone and the hearty Sir Roger of Durham witness a man murdered by hanging from the window of the Crusader’s Arms Inn. But this is not just any man, he is the illegitimate nephew of Robert de Belleme, and had apparently been holding a meeting with two mysterious men. In fact, it turns out the inn has been used for many meetings of the earl’s spies, and there are plans afoot to obtain a terrible weapon to use against the King, one that the Crusader Knights remember with a terrible fear from the Siege of Jerusalem Greek Fire. Solving the murder is only the first step in uncovering the plot against the King.

The Coiners’ Quarrel

A Sir Geoffrey Mappestone mysteryWestminster, 1102. About to depart for the Holy Land, Sir Geoffrey is suddenly summoned back by the King. When he arrives at Court he finds two argumentative groups of Saxon moneyers, one accusing the other of devaluing the King’s currency. But is there more to it than greed? Geoffrey has no choice but to accept the King’s commission to investigate whether this is part of a treasonous plot.

Deadly Inheritance

Murder, intrigue and marriage in the Welsh Marches of old…
When Sir Geoffrey’s unpopular brother, Henry, is murdered, he unwillingly inherits Goodrich Castle in the Welsh Marches. Immediately, his sister pushes him towards a marriage that will provide an heir and stability for the family. But when Geoffrey survives attempts on his own life, he wonders whether they are linked to Henry s death, to his potential brides, or even to the rumoured murder of the Duchess of Normandy, as a Welsh revolt against the English looms.

The Bloodstained Throne

The new Sir Geoffrey Mappestone mystery When the former crusader knight Geoffrey Mappestone and his friend Roger of Durham try to slip out of England to the Holy Land, a ferocious storm destroys the ship they are on and casts them ashore. The two knights are unwillingly thrust into the company of other shipwrecked passengers, and while attempting to evade the unwelcome attention of the more dangerous members of the group, they become unwillingly drawn into a plot to overthrow the king and return England to Saxon rule…

A Dead Man’s Secret

The new Sir Geoffrey Mappestone mystery When the former crusader knight Geoffrey Mappestone is ordered by King Henry to deliver a series of mysterious letters to the restless western reaches of Wales, he agrees only reluctantly. His conviction that the simple mission hides something more sinister is strengthened when the letters scribe is murdered before the journey begins. Then one of Geoffrey’s travelling companions is killed, and he knows he must uncover the secret behind the letters before more victims are claimed…

A Conspiracy of Violence

Susanna Gregory creator of the Chronicles of Matthew Bartholomew returns with an enthralling new mystery series set in Restoration London. A must for fans of historical whodunits. The grim days of Cromwell are past. Charles II is well established at White Hall Palace his mistress at hand in rooms over the Holbein Bridge, and the heads of regicides on public display. Freed from the strictures of the Protectorate, London seethes with new energy, but many of its citizens have lost their livelihoods. One is Thomas Chaloner, a reluctant spy for the feared Secretary of State, John Thurloe, and now returned from Holland in desperate need of work. His erstwhile employer, knowing that he has many enemies at court, recommends Thomas to Lord Clarendon, but in return demands that Thomas keep him informed of any plot against him. But what Thomas discovers is that Thurloe had sent another ex employee to White Hall and he is dead, purportedly murdered by footpads near the Thames. Thomas volunteers to investigate his killing; instead he is dispatched to the Tower to unearth the gold buried by the last Governor. There, he discovers not treasure, but evidence that, whomever is in power, greed and self interest are uppermost in men’s minds. And that his own life has no value to either side.

Blood on the Strand

Rebellion is in the air of London in the spring of 1663. Thomas Chaloner, spy for the King’s intelligence service, has just returned from thwarting a planned revolt in Dublin, but soon realizes that England’s capital is no haven of peace. He is ordered to investigate the shooting of a beggar during a royal procession. He soon learns the man is no vagrant, but someone with links to the powerful Company of Barber Surgeons. His master, the Earl of Clarendon, is locked in a deadly feud with the Earl of Bristol, and an innocent man is about to be hanged in Newgate. Chaloner is embroiled in a desperate race against time to protect Clarendon, to discover the true identity of the beggar’s murderer, and to save a blameless man from the executioner’s noose.

The Butcher of Smithfield

Thomas Chaloner, just returned from a clandestine excursion to Spain and Portugal on behalf of the Queen, finds London dank and grey under leaden skies. Although he has only been away for a short while, he finds many things changed, including the government slapping a tax on printed newspapers. Handwritten news reports escape the duty, and the rivalry between the producers of the two conduits of news is the talk of the coffeehouses, with the battle to be first with any sort of intelligence escalating into violent rivalry. And it seems that a number of citizens who have eaten cucumbers have come to untimely deaths. It is such a death which Chaloner is dispatched to investigate; that of a lawyer with links to ‘The Butcher of Smithfield,’ a shady trader surrounded by a fearsome gang of thugs who terrorize the streets well beyond the confines of Smithfield market. Chaloner doesn’t believe that either this death or the others are caused by a simple vegetable, but to prove his theory he has to untangle the devious means of how news is gathered and he has to put his personal safety aside as he tries to penetrate the rumor mill surrounding The Butcher of Smithfield and discover his real identity.

The Westminster Poisoner

Christopher Vine, a Treasury clerk working in solitary piety in the Painted Chamber of the Palace of Westminster, is not alone. A killer waits in the draughty hall to ensure Vine will not live to see in the New Year. And Vine is not the only government official to die that season. The Lord Chancellor fears his enemies will skew any investigation to cause him maximum damage, so he decides to commission his own inquiries into the murders and, with his suspicions centered on Greene, another clerk, he instructs Thomas Chaloner to prove that Greene is the killer. Chaloner can prove otherwise, but unraveling the reasons behind his employer’s suspicions is as complex as discovering the motives for the killings. His search for the real murderer plunges him into a stinking seam of corruption that leads towards the Royal apartments and to people determined to make Christmas 1663 Chaloner’s last.

A Murder on London Bridge

In 1664, there is an electric air of foreboding on the streets of London an atmosphere Thomas Chaloner fears will only take a small spark to ignite into another civil war The murder of a man in broad daylight on London Bridge is the first indication that the Earl of Clarendon’s fears of a rebellion against the newly restored monarchy may be well founded. His spy, Thomas Chaloner, suspects the assassin may be a member of a group dedicated to seeing the return of Puritanism, and at the same time he learns of a faction close to the King determined to bring back the old ways of the Roman Catholic Church. He discovers, too, that the killing on the Bridge is not the only assault committed there recently and begins to decipher a link between the violence and the people who manage the Bridge and its tottering, ramshackle buildings. As he moves unobtrusively between White Hall, the elegant mansions along the Strand, and the heaving congestion on the only river crossing, he becomes aware of an undercurrent of restlessness in the capital. And it soon becomes clear that the groups he is investigating are planning some extraordinary climax to achieve their separate aims on Shrove Tuesday, which gives him very little time to identify the ring leaders and thwart their intentions.

The Body in the Thames

London swelters in a heatwave in the summer of 1664, and in the corridors of power the temperature is equally high as an outbreak of war with the Dutch threatens to become a reality, in the sixth Chaloner mystery In the dilapidated surroundings of the Savoy, a delegation from the government in the Netherlands is gathered in a last ditch attempt to secure peace between the two countries. Thomas Chaloner, active in Holland during Cromwell’s time, is horrified at the violent aggression and hatred shown to the Dutch by ordinary Londoners, but is more worried by the dismissive attitude with which they are greeted by the King’s ministers and officials he has experienced the futilities of war at first hand and has no wish to witness another. When the body of his former brother in law is found in the Thames, and Chaloner discovers the dead man has left enigmatic clues to a motivation for his murder. These clues may be linked to a plot to steal the crown jewels, or to a conspiracy to ensure that no peace is secured between the two nations. Whichever it proves to be, Chaloner knows he has very little time to decipher the pointers left to him.

The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 1

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fictionEach year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field. In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. Jon L. Breen, England Maxim Jakubowski, Canada Edo Van Belkom, Australia David Honeybone, and Germany Thomas Woertche. Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year s compilation, the best value for money of any such anthology. The A to Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader:Robert Barnard Lawrence Block Jon L. Breen Wolfgang Burger Lillian Stewart Carl Margaret Coel Max Allan Collins Bill Crider Jeffery Deaver Brendan DuBois Susanna Gregory Joseph Hansen Carolyn G. Hart Lauren Henderson Edward D. Hoch Clark Howard Tatjana Kruse Paul Lascaux Dick Lochte Peter Lovesey Mary Jane Maffini Ed McBain Val McDermid Marcia Muller Joyce Carol Oates Anne Perry Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Ruth Rendell S. J. Rozan Billie Rubin Kristine Kathryn Rusch Stephan Rykena David B. Silva Nancy Springer Jac. Toes John Vermeulen Donald E. Westlake Carolyn Wheat.

The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 2

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fictionEach year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field. In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. Jon L. Breen, England Maxim Jakubowski, Canada Edo Van Belkom, Australia David Honeybone, and Germany Thomas Woertche. Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year s compilation, the best value for money of any such anthology. The A to Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader:Robert Barnard Lawrence Block Jon L. Breen Wolfgang Burger Lillian Stewart Carl Margaret Coel Max Allan Collins Bill Crider Jeffery Deaver Brendan DuBois Susanna Gregory Joseph Hansen Carolyn G. Hart Lauren Henderson Edward D. Hoch Clark Howard Tatjana Kruse Paul Lascaux Dick Lochte Peter Lovesey Mary Jane Maffini Ed McBain Val McDermid Marcia Muller Joyce Carol Oates Anne Perry Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Ruth Rendell S. J. Rozan Billie Rubin Kristine Kathryn Rusch Stephan Rykena David B. Silva Nancy Springer Jac. Toes John Vermeulen Donald E. Westlake Carolyn Wheat.

The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 3

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fictionEach year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field. In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. Jon L. Breen, England Maxim Jakubowski, Canada Edo Van Belkom, Australia David Honeybone, and Germany Thomas Woertche. Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year s compilation, the best value for money of any such anthology. The A to Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader:Robert Barnard Lawrence Block Jon L. Breen Wolfgang Burger Lillian Stewart Carl Margaret Coel Max Allan Collins Bill Crider Jeffery Deaver Brendan DuBois Susanna Gregory Joseph Hansen Carolyn G. Hart Lauren Henderson Edward D. Hoch Clark Howard Tatjana Kruse Paul Lascaux Dick Lochte Peter Lovesey Mary Jane Maffini Ed McBain Val McDermid Marcia Muller Joyce Carol Oates Anne Perry Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Ruth Rendell S. J. Rozan Billie Rubin Kristine Kathryn Rusch Stephan Rykena David B. Silva Nancy Springer Jac. Toes John Vermeulen Donald E. Westlake Carolyn Wheat.

The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 4

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fictionEach year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field. In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. Jon L. Breen, England Maxim Jakubowski, Canada Edo Van Belkom, Australia David Honeybone, and Germany Thomas Woertche. Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year s compilation, the best value for money of any such anthology. The A to Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader:Robert Barnard Lawrence Block Jon L. Breen Wolfgang Burger Lillian Stewart Carl Margaret Coel Max Allan Collins Bill Crider Jeffery Deaver Brendan DuBois Susanna Gregory Joseph Hansen Carolyn G. Hart Lauren Henderson Edward D. Hoch Clark Howard Tatjana Kruse Paul Lascaux Dick Lochte Peter Lovesey Mary Jane Maffini Ed McBain Val McDermid Marcia Muller Joyce Carol Oates Anne Perry Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Ruth Rendell S. J. Rozan Billie Rubin Kristine Kathryn Rusch Stephan Rykena David B. Silva Nancy Springer Jac. Toes John Vermeulen Donald E. Westlake Carolyn Wheat.

The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 5

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fictionEach year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field. In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. Jon L. Breen, England Maxim Jakubowski, Canada Edo Van Belkom, Australia David Honeybone, and Germany Thomas Woertche. Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year s compilation, the best value for money of any such anthology. The A to Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader:Robert Barnard Lawrence Block Jon L. Breen Wolfgang Burger Lillian Stewart Carl Margaret Coel Max Allan Collins Bill Crider Jeffery Deaver Brendan DuBois Susanna Gregory Joseph Hansen Carolyn G. Hart Lauren Henderson Edward D. Hoch Clark Howard Tatjana Kruse Paul Lascaux Dick Lochte Peter Lovesey Mary Jane Maffini Ed McBain Val McDermid Marcia Muller Joyce Carol Oates Anne Perry Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Ruth Rendell S. J. Rozan Billie Rubin Kristine Kathryn Rusch Stephan Rykena David B. Silva Nancy Springer Jac. Toes John Vermeulen Donald E. Westlake Carolyn Wheat.

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