The Murder in Colchester Gaol
a standalone mystery set in Elizabethan England
979-8-235-68446-1 (trade paperback) $15.95
979-8-235-56015-4 (e-book) $5.99
Late
Elizabethan England is an era rife with treason and
conflicting political and religious loyalties. Priest-catchers target Catholic
households in the hope of being able to arrest and execute priests. The
householders themselves have to pay ruinous fines if
they do not attend Anglican services. And yet leaders of both faiths agree that
a bewitched person can be cured by exorcism.
It is
the winter of 1590/1 in Colchester, Essex and twenty-eight-year-old Alison
Wynter, a London merchant's wife whose husband is traveling abroad, is
determined to discover what really happened to her youngest sister, Sybilla,
after Sybilla fell in love with a Catholic gentleman and was arrested for
illegally hearing Mass at Otley Manor. Sybilla died under mysterious
circumstances during her first night imprisoned in Colchester Castle's gaol. Some say she was bewitched to death. Others insist
she was possessed by a demon.
To
discover the truth, Alison contrives to have herself confined with the other
women arrested with Sybilla. She pretends she wishes to convert but she has
barely begun to ask questions when a royal pardon sets all recusant women
prisoners free. Accepting an invitation from Lady Otley to serve as her
companion, she joins the household at Otley Manor, meets the man her sister loved,
and discovers even more disconcerting details about Sybilla. Then, just as
Alison begins to make progress, a second murder puts her in mortal danger from
powerful figures on both sides of the religious divide.
"The
mystery is multilayered, and unexpected obstacles keep readers guessing until
the end. . . . Overall, an enjoyable period mystery packed with religious tension and danger
lurking at every turn."
Historical
Novel Society Review