A scorching summer. A melancholic merchant. A mysterious murder.
The date is 1208.

Sir Aumary Belvoir, Lord of Durley and a king’s constable and the warden of Savernake Forest, receives the strangest request. The self-important and vituperative vintner, Aldous of Pitchcott, needs protection, claiming he is about to be murdered.

Aumary is sceptical but moves Pitchcott to Marlborough Castle, where he is locked in a room in the castle wall. No one can possibly reach him, but within the day, Aldous Pitchcott is dead.
Aumary discovers that many in the town wished Pitchcott harm, but how did the killer reach him? Aumary and his friends are baffled! Can Aumary reveal the guilty party before the murderer strikes again?

Worldes Blis, a strange thirteenth-century song, provides the backdrop to the fourteenth novel in Susanna M. Newstead’s Savernake Medieval Murder Mystery Novel series.

Author Interview

1) How difficult is it to research settings for a Medieval Murder Mystery?

I’ve been doing it so long, I don’t really know. When I first started there was no web. Much of the history was a bit of a mystery even to experts. The manuscripts one might have needed were difficult to access but with the help of many people and institutions like libraries, I managed the investigation I needed. I’m still researching – it never ends. One has to play detective oneself never mind write about secrets and intrigue.

2) This is the fourteenth novel in your series. How do you keep the stories so fresh and exciting?

Ah, this is just practice I think. Clues have to be eked out and red herrings buried deep in the mystery. Pacing is very important and the investigation has to go on at the right speed, with little moments of humour to lift the intrigue.

3) Did you discover anything fascinating when researching this book?

Yes. All about Medieval scaffolding! Who knew exactly how the builders put together a castle? And the fact that some of that Medieval work is sometimes still there! I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

SAVERNAKE FOREST BOOK ORDER

1. Belvoir’s Promise
2. She Moved Through the Fair
3. Down By the Salley Gardens
4. I Will Give My Love an Apple
5. Black is the Colour of My True Love’s Hair
6. Long Lankyn
7. One Misty Moisty Morning
8. The Unquiet Grave
9. The Lark in the Morning
10. A Parcel of Rogues
11. Bushes & Briars
12. Though I Live Not Where I Love
13. Wynter Wakeneth
14. Worldes Blis
15. Alysoun

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Things get worse when Valentine is accused of murder. Was she targeted as a ploy? Did one of the celebrity stylists have it in for her?

Valentine has her work cut out for her, proving her innocence, handling her obnoxious employees, spying on Jock, dealing with Detective Romero’s surprise guest, and finding a killer…all promising a perilous campout!

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Quick Note: The characters in this book are comics. Comics swear. But they have good hearts. (Mostly.)

When up-and-coming comic, Kasey McCormick, attends a highly anticipated “business of comedy” seminar in Southern California, she expects to learn, network, and showcase her comedic talents. However, her excitement quickly turns to rueful disappointment when she discovers that a private audition session, limited to only ten handpicked performers, has excluded her.

Jealousy and resentment sweep through the ranks of the excluded comics, and the event’s organizer, Juliet Hartwell, does her best to quell the discontent. But Juliet has bigger problems: Kasey soon discovers that Juliet is harboring a dark secret—she’s being blackmailed and the blackmailer has just begun to stir up trouble.

Kasey’s growing reputation for solving crimes puts her at the center of the investigation. With the help of Luke Hallidade and some new comedy pals, Kasey reluctantly embarks on an increasingly dangerous journey to expose the blackmailer and release Juliet from her guilt-ridden past.

Top Hats and Treachery takes you inside the world of comedy, where everyone has at least one secret, very few people are as they seem, and the stakes take a deadly turn. Join Kasey McCormick in this fun and funny mystery as she combines her comedic talents with her investigative skills, proving that laughter and deduction can be a winning combination.

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Kyiv, 1919. The Soviets control the city, but White armies menace them from the West. No man trusts his neighbour and any spark of resistance may ignite into open rebellion.

When Samson Kolechko’s father is murdered, his last act is to save his son from a falling Cossack sabre. Deprived of his right ear instead of his head, Samson is left an orphan, with only his father’s collection of abacuses for company.

Until, that is, his flat is requisitioned by two Red Army soldiers, whose secret plans Samson is somehow able to overhear with uncanny clarity. Eager to thwart them, he stumbles into a world of murder and intrigue that will either be the making of him – or finish what the Cossack started.

Inflected with Kurkov’s signature humour and magical realism, The Silver Bone takes inspiration from the real life archives of crime enforcement agencies in Kyiv, crafting a propulsive narrative that bursts to life with rich historical detail.

Translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk

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Treason, mistrust and deadly malevolence make play about these pages. In a world bestowing heaven to a lucky few and servitude to the many, few and far between are not the excesses and violence of greed. Alexander, a son adopted into this very power, must decide how far into inhumanity he must delve to save himself and those he loves. There is no trail of crumbs, but a blood droplet path that must be followed to the mighty conclusion of good and evil.

Laid bare is evil of every character, synonymous with man, left is no hope that any light will pierce the pines of this tale’s end.

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When murder comes with the job…

Halloween is approaching, and Jade is looking forward to bumper profits for Crystal Dreams – until another magic shop opens its doors. And the shop manager isn’t above stealing their ideas…

Jade’s furious, and sparks fly between her and her assistant Netta as they fight over the best way to keep Crystal Dreams afloat. But that pales into insignificance when the rival shop manager is found dead – and all the evidence points to Jade.

That isn’t Jade’s only problem. She’s been running away for years – but a chance photograph leads someone from her past straight to her.

Is Jade’s new life in Hazeby at risk? Can she prove her innocence? And will her friendship with Fi survive when her secrets are revealed?

Murder at Work is the fifth book in the Booker and Fitch cozy mystery series, set in and around the English market town of Hazeby-on-Wyvern.

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Unwelcome visitors can be murder

It’s May, and Fi and Jade are taking part in a bank holiday fete at Spetisham Hall. Business is good, and for Fi at least, romance is in the air.

But when a series of conversations suggest that Fi’s dead husband isn’t dead at all, her life starts to unravel. Could it be true? And if it is, what does that mean for her and her son Dylan?

Before Fi has the chance to investigate, though, one of her informants is found dead at the river’s edge.

If it’s murder, who benefits apart from Fi? And is she in danger too?

Fi and Jade must discover the truth before anyone else is hurt and Fi’s fledgling relationship with Marcus is destroyed, even if it means confronting the man who deserted her so many years before.

Death on the Towpath is the fourth book in the Booker and Fitch cozy mystery series, set in and around the English market town of Hazeby-on-Wyvern.

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After an invitation to visit New Orleans from Miss Lucille Bassett, famous jazz singer, Dodo and company board a luxury ocean liner and head across the pond. The climate, the food and the culture couldn’t be more different from England and Dodo considers the whole trip a grand adventure.

Enjoying her role as tourist, Dodo delights in a trip on a steamer down the Mississippi, a visit to an ancient smuggler’s dwelling and the hustle and bustle of Bourbon Street. At the top of her wish list, however, is dancing at Miss Bassett’s famous jazz club.

On their second day in Louisiana, a terrible murder occurs without any obvious motive. Lucille implores Dodo to take the case as gangsters abound in the Prohibition Era South and have the police department in their pockets.

Dodo agrees but her sleuthing places a loved one in danger and she is torn between solving the crime for her friend or protecting those she loves.

Curl up with this delightful, pager-turner of a whodunnit that will have you on the edge of your seat until the last chapter.

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