P. C. Doherty
Author of The Nightingale Gallery
About the Author
Paul C. Doherty was born on September 21, 1946. He is an award winning British author, educator, and historian. He is also the Headmaster of Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green, Essex, in the United Kingdom. He went to Liverpool University where he gained a First Class Honours Degree in show more History and at Exeter College, Oxford, where he received a doctorate for his thesis on Edward II. Dr. Doherty is a historian who lectures for a number of organisations, particularly on historical mysteries. Dr. Doherty was awarded an Order of the British Empire for his services to education in 2011. His other career is that of Headmaster at Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green, Essex for 30 years. In 1999, the school was given Beacon status which rates it as outstanding among other schools in it's category. Dr. Doherty has published a series of historical mysteries set in the Middle Ages, Classical, Greek, and Ancient Egypt. He writes both fiction and non-fiction under his own name, both as P.C. Doherty and Paul C. Doherty, as well as the pennames: Anna Apostolou, Michael Clynes, and Ann Dukthas. Doherty is the author of several mystery series, including The Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan, the Hugh Corbett medieval mysteries, and the Canterbury Tales of mystery. He has written 100 published books which have been printed in several languages and distributed in several different countries including the UK, United States, Spain, and Germany. He was also awarded the Herodotus, for lifelong achievement for excellence in the writing of historical mysteries by the Historical Mystery Appreciation Society. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
Paul Doherty has published under several pseudonyms, including C. L. Grace, Paul Harding, Ann Dukthas, and Anna Apostolou, but now writes under his own name.
Paul C. Doherty, or P. C. Doherty, writes under a number of pseudonyms: --- Ann Dukthas, --- Anna Apostalou, --- Michael Clynes and --- Vanessa Alexander have single-author pages which are combined here.The pages for --- C. L. Grace, --- Paul Harding and --- Paul Doherty --- are shared with other authors and the works are therefore aliased here.
There is also a Peter C. Doherty (author of Pandemics).
Series
Works by P. C. Doherty
The Great Crown Jewels Robbery of 1303: The Extraordinary Story of the First Big Bank Raid in History (2005) 68 copies, 2 reviews
The Death of Alexander the Great: What-or Who-Really Killed the Young Conqueror of the Known World? (2004) 62 copies, 2 reviews
[Title missing] 1 copy
Or You Can Drink the Wine 1 copy
The King's Writ 1 copy
Associated Works
The Folio Book of Historical Mysteries (2008) — Author: Was Tutankhamun Murdered?, some editions — 112 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction January/February 2012, Vol. 122, No. 1 & 2 (2012) — Contributor — 21 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction July/August 2011, Vol. 121, Nos. 1 & 2 (2011) — Contributor — 16 copies, 1 review
Puzzles of the Parish: Short Tales of Ministers, Murder and Mystery 151 (British Library Crime Classics) (2026) — Contributor — 14 copies, 1 review
Gli investigatori di Dio — Contributor — 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Doherty, P. C.
Doherty, Paul
Doherty, Paul Charles
Harding, Paul
Apostolou, Anna
Alexander, Vanessa (show all 9)
Dukthas, Ann
Grace, C L
Clynes, Michael - Birthdate
- 1946-09-21
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Liverpool
University of Oxford (Exeter College)
University of Durham - Occupations
- teacher
Headmaster
novelist
biographer - Organizations
- Trinity Catholic School
- Awards and honors
- Officer of the Order of the British Empire (2011)
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England, UK
- Map Location
- England, UK
- Disambiguation notice
- Paul Doherty has published under several pseudonyms, including C. L. Grace, Paul Harding, Ann Dukthas, and Anna Apostolou, but now writes under his own name.
Paul C. Doherty, or P. C. Doherty, writes under a number of pseudonyms: --- Ann Dukthas, --- Anna Apostalou, --- Michael Clynes and --- Vanessa Alexander have single-author pages which are combined here.The pages for --- C. L. Grace, --- Paul Harding and --- Paul Doherty --- are shared with other authors and the works are therefore aliased here.
There is also a Peter C. Doherty (author of Pandemics).
Members
Reviews
Treachery and treason. 1382
If ever any one can take you into the bowels of a Bosch painting with his descriptions of the London that our Brother Athelstan and Sir John Cranston, the Lord High Coroner tread it’s Paul Doherty. In this latest medieval mystery we have the locked room theme (here a locked tower) complete with murder most foul, stolen kingdom treasure, garrotted hangman being found across the parishes, and a further garrotted body in Athelstan’s own St Erconwald church, and show more hints of the mysterious and deadly Italian smugglers and robbers, the Carbonari lurking in the deep shadows.
Both Aleston and Sir John come under threat. Tasked with solving the theft of the Crown’s Treasury by John of Gaunt and King Richard II, our pursuers of truth are lead down a fantastical path.
Oh my! The bees in the beehive are well and truly buzzing as unseen enemies stealthily slip through their midst. Another intriguing Athelstan and Cranston enigma.
A Severn House ARC via NetGalley show less
If ever any one can take you into the bowels of a Bosch painting with his descriptions of the London that our Brother Athelstan and Sir John Cranston, the Lord High Coroner tread it’s Paul Doherty. In this latest medieval mystery we have the locked room theme (here a locked tower) complete with murder most foul, stolen kingdom treasure, garrotted hangman being found across the parishes, and a further garrotted body in Athelstan’s own St Erconwald church, and show more hints of the mysterious and deadly Italian smugglers and robbers, the Carbonari lurking in the deep shadows.
Both Aleston and Sir John come under threat. Tasked with solving the theft of the Crown’s Treasury by John of Gaunt and King Richard II, our pursuers of truth are lead down a fantastical path.
Oh my! The bees in the beehive are well and truly buzzing as unseen enemies stealthily slip through their midst. Another intriguing Athelstan and Cranston enigma.
A Severn House ARC via NetGalley show less
On the one and only time I visited Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, way back in the sixties, the chamber where Edward II was reputedly murdered was billed as a highlight of the tour. Later, as a student at Southampton University in 1969, I remember Ian McKellen playing Edward II in Marlowe’s play of the same name, raising shocked intakes of breath as he entered planting a kiss on the lips of the King’s favourite, Piers Gaveston.
The notorious manner of the king’s death — “by a show more red hot poker being thrust up into his bowels” according to the contemporary Swynbroke chronicle — often overshadows the complicated life and reign of Edward. Paul Doherty’s study promised a new look not only at Edward but also at Isabella, the wife he was betrothed to when both were still young.
Edward was the only surviving legitimate son of Edward I, Hammer of the Scots. Born in 1284 at Caernarfon Castle (thus supposedly meriting the title Prince of Wales) he seemed singularly unsuited to ruling, preferring, as Doherty tells us, “hunting, horses and music”. Subjected to dynastic politicking and match-making between Philip the Fair of France and the English king, on the death of his father the young king resisted marrying the French princess Isabella as long as he could. But while he fathered four children in relatively quick succession, not to mention at least one illegitimate son, Edward’s real interest was his favourite Piers Gaveston, the son of a Gascon landowner. In 1307 he succeeded to the throne, but Gaveston’s speedy advancement excited resentment from the nobility (a commoner made Earl of Cornwall!) and he was judicially murdered in 1312, the same year as the birth of Edward’s legitimate son, the future Edward III.
1314 was an eventful year. The downfall of the Knights Templar order in France, instigated by Isabella’s father Philip IV, was eventually followed by their dissolution in England — though in a less brutal fashion — but the French king didn’t savour his triumph for long, dying within the year. Isabella, on a state visit to the land of her birth, did not endear herself to her compatriots by unwittingly exposing her three brothers, Charles, Louis and Philip as cuckolds. Back in Britain Edward, no credit to his militarist father, oversaw the worst ever English defeat since the battle of Hastings when the Scottish decisively crushed his army at Bannockburn. Edward’s star, never much in the ascendant, continued to slide until he found a new ‘favourite’, the younger Hugh de Spencer in 1320.
Isabella’s position at Edward’s side was now severely compromised, and the couple drifted apart, a situation strengthened by overt antagonism between the Queen and Spencer; that uneasiness was matched by growing unrest in England directed against Spencer’s rapaciousness and Edward’s incompetence. Isabella travelled to France in 1325 to negotiate rapprochement between England and France. Here she was joined by Welsh magnate Roger Mortimer, who had escaped from the Tower of London after falling foul of Spencer in 1322, and the pair plotted a return to England to counter the unpopular rule of Edward and his favourite. Crossing the Channel, they quickly garnered public support; Edward and Spencer fled to South Wales where they were eventually captured. The hated Spencer suffered a particularly barbaric execution and Edward was imprisoned, first at Kenilworth, eventually at Berkeley in Gloucestershire. Forced to abdicate (as effectively happened to another Edward in 1936) he was succeeded by his son, with Isabella and her probable lover Mortimer holding the real reins of power.
And it is here that, traditionally, the life of Edward came to an end on September 21st. Officially he died from grief, but various contemporary or near contemporary stories suggested general ill-treatment or suffocation as cause of death, not to forget that poker as an appropriate instrument of death for a suspected sodomite. But, as Doherty points out, there are far too many inconsistent facts and testimonies to be certain that any of this is true. There is every likelihood that a rescue attempt by a ‘gang’ from the English Midlands led by the Dunheved brothers was successful, and that the King escaped, spent time in secret in Corfe Castle and then went into self-imposed exile as an anonymous hermit in Europe. A curious letter, written around 1340 by Manuel Fieschi to Edward III, claimed that this Italian cleric had actually met the disguised ex-king, with much that was circumstantial but also including information suggesting insider knowledge.
How it was that a body was produced, embalmed and given a right royal burial in Gloucester Cathedral just before Christmas three months later without substitution being suspected might seem incredible to anyone who is not into conspiracy theory but Doherty makes it seem possible, even if he doesn’t necessarily totally endorse it. However, another historian, an academic called Ian Mortimer also published a work along the same lines as Doherty’s in the same year (The Greatest Traitor: the life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England 1327-1330) but more strongly espousing the theory of Edward’s survival; and these two writers’ work on the faked death was endorsed by Alison Weir two years later in her Isabella: She-wolf of France, Queen of England.
And Isabella? She and her own favourite Mortimer began to act as outrageously as Edward had with his favourites and soon lost any sympathy that she might have elicited for the cruel treatment she had latterly received before the Edward’s defeat. In 1330 the young king Edward II asserted his authority: Mortimer was seized and executed and Isabella the she-wolf or ‘iron virago’ — exonerated by her son from any wrongdoing, all attributed to Mortimer — finally took a back seat, surviving in comfort until 1358.
Doherty’s book is furnished with a full panoply of notes and sources, and tells an exciting tale of everyday intrigue and violence among upper class folk. Not being too familiar with this period meant some detailed note-taking for me but there is little here that would be incomprehensible to the general reader. I do have some criticisms though, many to be laid at the door of the publisher rather than the author personally I suspect. First, genealogical trees would have helped to clarify relationships, and a couple of maps wouldn’t have gone amiss either. Some basic errors should have been picked up between the hardback and paperback editions, for example France’s ‘western’ borders extending to the Rhine (‘eastern’ is clearly meant), while Brittany is misspelled (both these on page 12); Gaveston was actually married to Margaret de Clare not her mother, Joan of Gloucester (page 50); the river Gesota is interpreted as the Usk on page 186 but the Wye on 194 (the latter is correct); and Howel ap Griffith (that is, Howel son of Griffith) is incorrectly called by his father’s name — only applicable if ap Griffith was anglicised as Griffiths, a practice that was not adopted for at least another couple of centuries.
But credit where it’s due, my eyes were certainly opened by this study. Doherty ends by admitting that “the true fate of Edward II can only be a matter of speculation. However, there is considerable evidence that the corpse in the lead coffin beneath the beautiful Purbeck marble sarcophagus in St Peter’s at Gloucester is not Edward II’s.” Ian Mortimer goes further on his website in pointing to the unreliability of contemporary testimony: “It is still possible to believe that Edward II died in Berkeley Castle. It is still possible to believe that the world is flat and that Father Christmas exists. But to state that we can rely on the bulk of the evidence for the death is like saying we can be sure that most people believe in Father Christmas because the weight of evidence – so many Christmas cards depicting him – outweigh the statements of disbelief.”
Marlowe’s dramatisation of Edward’s gruesome death is certainly memorable. But I know what I’d rather believe.
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-edwardii show less
The notorious manner of the king’s death — “by a show more red hot poker being thrust up into his bowels” according to the contemporary Swynbroke chronicle — often overshadows the complicated life and reign of Edward. Paul Doherty’s study promised a new look not only at Edward but also at Isabella, the wife he was betrothed to when both were still young.
Edward was the only surviving legitimate son of Edward I, Hammer of the Scots. Born in 1284 at Caernarfon Castle (thus supposedly meriting the title Prince of Wales) he seemed singularly unsuited to ruling, preferring, as Doherty tells us, “hunting, horses and music”. Subjected to dynastic politicking and match-making between Philip the Fair of France and the English king, on the death of his father the young king resisted marrying the French princess Isabella as long as he could. But while he fathered four children in relatively quick succession, not to mention at least one illegitimate son, Edward’s real interest was his favourite Piers Gaveston, the son of a Gascon landowner. In 1307 he succeeded to the throne, but Gaveston’s speedy advancement excited resentment from the nobility (a commoner made Earl of Cornwall!) and he was judicially murdered in 1312, the same year as the birth of Edward’s legitimate son, the future Edward III.
1314 was an eventful year. The downfall of the Knights Templar order in France, instigated by Isabella’s father Philip IV, was eventually followed by their dissolution in England — though in a less brutal fashion — but the French king didn’t savour his triumph for long, dying within the year. Isabella, on a state visit to the land of her birth, did not endear herself to her compatriots by unwittingly exposing her three brothers, Charles, Louis and Philip as cuckolds. Back in Britain Edward, no credit to his militarist father, oversaw the worst ever English defeat since the battle of Hastings when the Scottish decisively crushed his army at Bannockburn. Edward’s star, never much in the ascendant, continued to slide until he found a new ‘favourite’, the younger Hugh de Spencer in 1320.
Isabella’s position at Edward’s side was now severely compromised, and the couple drifted apart, a situation strengthened by overt antagonism between the Queen and Spencer; that uneasiness was matched by growing unrest in England directed against Spencer’s rapaciousness and Edward’s incompetence. Isabella travelled to France in 1325 to negotiate rapprochement between England and France. Here she was joined by Welsh magnate Roger Mortimer, who had escaped from the Tower of London after falling foul of Spencer in 1322, and the pair plotted a return to England to counter the unpopular rule of Edward and his favourite. Crossing the Channel, they quickly garnered public support; Edward and Spencer fled to South Wales where they were eventually captured. The hated Spencer suffered a particularly barbaric execution and Edward was imprisoned, first at Kenilworth, eventually at Berkeley in Gloucestershire. Forced to abdicate (as effectively happened to another Edward in 1936) he was succeeded by his son, with Isabella and her probable lover Mortimer holding the real reins of power.
And it is here that, traditionally, the life of Edward came to an end on September 21st. Officially he died from grief, but various contemporary or near contemporary stories suggested general ill-treatment or suffocation as cause of death, not to forget that poker as an appropriate instrument of death for a suspected sodomite. But, as Doherty points out, there are far too many inconsistent facts and testimonies to be certain that any of this is true. There is every likelihood that a rescue attempt by a ‘gang’ from the English Midlands led by the Dunheved brothers was successful, and that the King escaped, spent time in secret in Corfe Castle and then went into self-imposed exile as an anonymous hermit in Europe. A curious letter, written around 1340 by Manuel Fieschi to Edward III, claimed that this Italian cleric had actually met the disguised ex-king, with much that was circumstantial but also including information suggesting insider knowledge.
How it was that a body was produced, embalmed and given a right royal burial in Gloucester Cathedral just before Christmas three months later without substitution being suspected might seem incredible to anyone who is not into conspiracy theory but Doherty makes it seem possible, even if he doesn’t necessarily totally endorse it. However, another historian, an academic called Ian Mortimer also published a work along the same lines as Doherty’s in the same year (The Greatest Traitor: the life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England 1327-1330) but more strongly espousing the theory of Edward’s survival; and these two writers’ work on the faked death was endorsed by Alison Weir two years later in her Isabella: She-wolf of France, Queen of England.
And Isabella? She and her own favourite Mortimer began to act as outrageously as Edward had with his favourites and soon lost any sympathy that she might have elicited for the cruel treatment she had latterly received before the Edward’s defeat. In 1330 the young king Edward II asserted his authority: Mortimer was seized and executed and Isabella the she-wolf or ‘iron virago’ — exonerated by her son from any wrongdoing, all attributed to Mortimer — finally took a back seat, surviving in comfort until 1358.
Doherty’s book is furnished with a full panoply of notes and sources, and tells an exciting tale of everyday intrigue and violence among upper class folk. Not being too familiar with this period meant some detailed note-taking for me but there is little here that would be incomprehensible to the general reader. I do have some criticisms though, many to be laid at the door of the publisher rather than the author personally I suspect. First, genealogical trees would have helped to clarify relationships, and a couple of maps wouldn’t have gone amiss either. Some basic errors should have been picked up between the hardback and paperback editions, for example France’s ‘western’ borders extending to the Rhine (‘eastern’ is clearly meant), while Brittany is misspelled (both these on page 12); Gaveston was actually married to Margaret de Clare not her mother, Joan of Gloucester (page 50); the river Gesota is interpreted as the Usk on page 186 but the Wye on 194 (the latter is correct); and Howel ap Griffith (that is, Howel son of Griffith) is incorrectly called by his father’s name — only applicable if ap Griffith was anglicised as Griffiths, a practice that was not adopted for at least another couple of centuries.
But credit where it’s due, my eyes were certainly opened by this study. Doherty ends by admitting that “the true fate of Edward II can only be a matter of speculation. However, there is considerable evidence that the corpse in the lead coffin beneath the beautiful Purbeck marble sarcophagus in St Peter’s at Gloucester is not Edward II’s.” Ian Mortimer goes further on his website in pointing to the unreliability of contemporary testimony: “It is still possible to believe that Edward II died in Berkeley Castle. It is still possible to believe that the world is flat and that Father Christmas exists. But to state that we can rely on the bulk of the evidence for the death is like saying we can be sure that most people believe in Father Christmas because the weight of evidence – so many Christmas cards depicting him – outweigh the statements of disbelief.”
Marlowe’s dramatisation of Edward’s gruesome death is certainly memorable. But I know what I’d rather believe.
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-edwardii show less
I was given a free advance copy of this manuscript in exchange for writing an impartial review. (Publication Date: 2/4/20) As a devotee of all kinds of historical fiction, as someone who has a particular passion for English history, and as someone who thinks Margaret Beaufort (mother to King Henry VII) is one of most fascinating and shrewd women in English history -- you can imagine how much I was looking forward to this book. And how much I wanted to enjoy it. Alas, it was not to be.
This show more VERY prolific author (of no less than 100 historical novels) has created a wildly convoluted mystery based around the rivalry and deception so central to the Wars of the Roses. So, let me begin by setting the scene.
King Edward IV, of the House of York, sits on the throne. But Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of the rival House of Lancaster's surviving heir) still hopes to see HER son on the throne. Around her are a loyal band of retainers - Reginald Bray (real historical figure), Christopher Urswicke (real), and Gareth Morgan (fictional as best I can tell). That all sounds promising enough.
Unfortunately, despite the book's title, Margaret Beaufort is more of a secondary character. Primarily either as a figurehead that attracts loyal Lancaster followers or as a focal point for York hatred. Most of the action of the novel involves men, brutal murders, some torture, and the relationship between a father and son who are on opposite sides of the York-Lancaster rivalry.
But aside from feeling misled by the book's title, and turned off by the blasé violence, my chief criticisms are two-fold:
PROBLEM ONE. The story is slow partly because it is so over-burdened by the kind of description authors often insert when they have done TOO much research and feel the need to include everything.
Here, by way of example, is an excerpt when Reginald Bray is being followed in a marketplace:
"Bray moved purposefully. He fully acknowledged he was being followed, if not by some hooded figure then by one or two of the flocks of street sparrows who darted along the narrow gaps between the many stalls. Bray felt an acute sense of danger. He recalled the two murderous assaults on him and wondered if these were all part of a well-laid plot to dig up and destroy the very roots of all those who supported Countess Margaret and her exiled son. Bray then wondered how his mistress and Urswicke were faring. As he crossed Cheapside, Bray glimpsed a finely carved statue of Our Lady of Walsingham standing on its plinth. He murmured a swift prayer to the 'Fragrantly beautiful Queen of Heaven' for the safety of the countess and those who served her. Now and again Bray would pause, as if to buy from a stall or listen to a storyteller fresh from Outremer chanting a tale about a strange creature which had the head of a hare, the neck of an ox, the winds of a dragon, the feel of a camel and so on. On this occasion Bray glanced around and caught two men at a nearby stall; they were studying him closely then quickly looked away."
Really? While he's being followed, he considers street sparrows, Margaret Beaufort, Urswicke, a statue, and listens to a storyteller? After two attempts on his life, wasn't the adrenaline helping him focus exclusively on who might be following him? Or, perhaps I am being uncharitable and Bray was simply a victim of a Medieval case of ADHD.
PROBLEM TWO. Way too much of the plot is explained by characters sitting around a meal together. Long, and frankly unrealistic monologues that make sure every aspect of the relevant history of the Wars of the Roses is covered. Including an exceptionally long-winded final scene where Margaret Beaufort and her friends confront a traitor and painstakingly review all the evidence of his guilt. Assuming, I can only guess, that the reader needs to have everything explained in order to successfully tie up the mystery. Instead, it felt more like an Agatha Christie mystery where the reader can't possibly solve it alone and needs Miss Marple to point out unimportant but key details that the author intentionally meant readers to overlook.
Okay, I think you get the idea. If you are interested in the still-remarkable historical figure of Margaret Beaufort, there are better historical novels around than this one. show less
This show more VERY prolific author (of no less than 100 historical novels) has created a wildly convoluted mystery based around the rivalry and deception so central to the Wars of the Roses. So, let me begin by setting the scene.
King Edward IV, of the House of York, sits on the throne. But Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of the rival House of Lancaster's surviving heir) still hopes to see HER son on the throne. Around her are a loyal band of retainers - Reginald Bray (real historical figure), Christopher Urswicke (real), and Gareth Morgan (fictional as best I can tell). That all sounds promising enough.
Unfortunately, despite the book's title, Margaret Beaufort is more of a secondary character. Primarily either as a figurehead that attracts loyal Lancaster followers or as a focal point for York hatred. Most of the action of the novel involves men, brutal murders, some torture, and the relationship between a father and son who are on opposite sides of the York-Lancaster rivalry.
But aside from feeling misled by the book's title, and turned off by the blasé violence, my chief criticisms are two-fold:
PROBLEM ONE. The story is slow partly because it is so over-burdened by the kind of description authors often insert when they have done TOO much research and feel the need to include everything.
Here, by way of example, is an excerpt when Reginald Bray is being followed in a marketplace:
"Bray moved purposefully. He fully acknowledged he was being followed, if not by some hooded figure then by one or two of the flocks of street sparrows who darted along the narrow gaps between the many stalls. Bray felt an acute sense of danger. He recalled the two murderous assaults on him and wondered if these were all part of a well-laid plot to dig up and destroy the very roots of all those who supported Countess Margaret and her exiled son. Bray then wondered how his mistress and Urswicke were faring. As he crossed Cheapside, Bray glimpsed a finely carved statue of Our Lady of Walsingham standing on its plinth. He murmured a swift prayer to the 'Fragrantly beautiful Queen of Heaven' for the safety of the countess and those who served her. Now and again Bray would pause, as if to buy from a stall or listen to a storyteller fresh from Outremer chanting a tale about a strange creature which had the head of a hare, the neck of an ox, the winds of a dragon, the feel of a camel and so on. On this occasion Bray glanced around and caught two men at a nearby stall; they were studying him closely then quickly looked away."
Really? While he's being followed, he considers street sparrows, Margaret Beaufort, Urswicke, a statue, and listens to a storyteller? After two attempts on his life, wasn't the adrenaline helping him focus exclusively on who might be following him? Or, perhaps I am being uncharitable and Bray was simply a victim of a Medieval case of ADHD.
PROBLEM TWO. Way too much of the plot is explained by characters sitting around a meal together. Long, and frankly unrealistic monologues that make sure every aspect of the relevant history of the Wars of the Roses is covered. Including an exceptionally long-winded final scene where Margaret Beaufort and her friends confront a traitor and painstakingly review all the evidence of his guilt. Assuming, I can only guess, that the reader needs to have everything explained in order to successfully tie up the mystery. Instead, it felt more like an Agatha Christie mystery where the reader can't possibly solve it alone and needs Miss Marple to point out unimportant but key details that the author intentionally meant readers to overlook.
Okay, I think you get the idea. If you are interested in the still-remarkable historical figure of Margaret Beaufort, there are better historical novels around than this one. show less
Historical mystery and power unabated!
Plots and counterplots swirl around Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, and her son Henry Tudor. I love Doherty’s comment in the Author’s Note about Margaret. “In the end she proved to be the dark nemesis of the House of York.” (With that comment Doherty’s title slots in seamlessly),
A nerve racking read filled with the desperation of the age, the evil of men, and all matters pertaining to the lust for power and kingship.
We have Edward of show more York endeavoring to be rid of a claimant to the English throne; Margaret’s sworn man Christopher Urswicke’s father, Sir Thomas, Recorder of London, plotting and planning, spinning his web far and wide; a hidden group of feared Castilian assassins, the Garduna; and a secret French chapter loyal to the French king, just for starters. Third in this series of enthralling historical novels, we’re once again presented with a riveting portrayal of these violent medieval times, alongside a deep political mystery, all rolled into one. Satisfying indeed!
A Canongate-Severn ARC via NetGalley
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change show less
Plots and counterplots swirl around Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, and her son Henry Tudor. I love Doherty’s comment in the Author’s Note about Margaret. “In the end she proved to be the dark nemesis of the House of York.” (With that comment Doherty’s title slots in seamlessly),
A nerve racking read filled with the desperation of the age, the evil of men, and all matters pertaining to the lust for power and kingship.
We have Edward of show more York endeavoring to be rid of a claimant to the English throne; Margaret’s sworn man Christopher Urswicke’s father, Sir Thomas, Recorder of London, plotting and planning, spinning his web far and wide; a hidden group of feared Castilian assassins, the Garduna; and a secret French chapter loyal to the French king, just for starters. Third in this series of enthralling historical novels, we’re once again presented with a riveting portrayal of these violent medieval times, alongside a deep political mystery, all rolled into one. Satisfying indeed!
A Canongate-Severn ARC via NetGalley
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change show less
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