Mel Starr
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Suppression And Suspicion
$15.00Add to cartDelve into the world of fourteenth-century England in this thrilling historical mystery, the fifteenth in the brilliant Chronicles of Hugh de Singleton.
Edmund Harkins has gone missing.
Few in Bampton liked him, knowing him to be a wife-beater and distinctly unsavoury character, so when some hungry pigs unearth his corpse from a shallow grave, there is hardly an outpouring of grief. As bailiff, it is Hugh de Singleton’s duty to bring Edmund’s killer to justice. But where is he to start investigating when almost everyone in the village has a motive? And when everyone is pleased to see the scoundrel dead, who knows how far they might go to help someone get away with murder?
To further complicate Hugh’s life, the Bishop of Exeter has appointed his nephew as Bampton’s new vicar. But as well as an obsession with discovering any heretical views Hugh might hold, he could not be more unpriestly he not only acts appallingly with Lady Katherine’s maid, but is contributing to the unhealthy atmosphere of suppression and suspicion that has come to pervade the village . . .
Fast paced and full of twists and turns, Suppression and Suspicion is a brilliant medieval murder mystery perfect for fans of Susanna Gregory and Peter Ellis. Mel Starr paints an immersive and atmospheric picture of fourteenth-century England, and weaves a compelling mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page.
The fifteenth volume in the Chronicles of Hugh de Singleton, Suppression and Suspicion will be thoroughly enjoyed by long time fans of the series but can also be read as a standalone novel.
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Deeds Of Darkness
$16.99Add to cartMany medieval scholars discontinued their university studies before completing their degree. Some did so because of a lack of funds, others because they were bored with a scholar’s life. Occasionally these young men formed lawless bands, robbing, and raping and creating chaos. They were called goliards. On learning that an old friend has been killed while travelling to Oxford, Hugh de Singleton, discovers the presence of a band of goliards in the area between Oxford and Bampton. Are these youths responsible? And why are they being protected by someone far above Master Hugh’s station?
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Lucifers Harvest
$14.99Add to cartKing Charles of France has announced that he is confiscating Aquitaine, and Prince Edward has sent for knights and men at arms from England to assist him in opposing the French king. Lord Gilbert Talbot is required to provide five knights, twelve squires, and twenty archers and men at arms, and wishes his surgeon – Hugh de Singleton – to travel with the party, while Hugh’s wife Kate will oversee the castle. Among the party will be Sir Simon Trillowe, Hugh’s old nemesis and Kate’s former suitor, who had once set fire to Hugh’s house. After a brawl on the streets of Oxford Sir Simon had nearly lost an ear; Hugh had sewn it back on but it had healed crooked, and Simon blamed Hugh for the disfigurement. Finding himself in the same party, Hugh resolves not to turn his back on the knight – but it is Sir Simon who should not have turned his back.
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Ashes To Ashes
$16.99Add to cartMaster Hugh, Kate, and their children attend the Midsummer’s Eve fire. Next morning early Hugh hears the passing bell ring from the Church of St. Beornwald, and moments later is summoned. Tenants collecting the ashes to spread upon their fields have found burned bones. Master Hugh learns of several men of Bampton and nearby villages who have gone missing recently. Most are soon found, some alive, some dead. Master Hugh eventually learns that the bones are those of a bailiff from a nearby manor. Someone has slain him and placed his body in the fire to destroy evidence of murder. Bailiffs are not popular men; they dictate labour service, collect rents, and enforce other obligations. Has this bailiff died at the hand of some angry tenant? Hugh soon discovers this is not the case. There is quite another reason for murder …
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Abbots Agreement
$15.00Add to cartMaster Hugh de Singleton is making his way towards Oxford when he discovers the young Benedictine not half a mile from the nearby abbey. “My life would have been more tranquil in the days after Martinmas had I not seen the crows. Whatever it was that the crows had found, lay in the dappled shadow of the bare limbs of the oak, so I was nearly upon the thing before I recognized what the crows were feasting upon. The corpse wore black.” The abbey’s novice master confirms the boy’s identity; it is John, one of three novices. He had gone missing four days previously, and yet his corpse is fresh. There has been plague in the area, but this was not the cause of death – the lad has been stabbed in the back. To Hugh’s sinking heart, the abbot has a commission for him.
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Corpse At Saint Andrews Chapel
$15.00Add to cartA further episode in the Unquiet Bones series, following the life and fortunes of Hugh de Singleton, surgeon in medieval Bampton, Oxfordshire Alan, the beadle of the manor of Bampton, had gone out at dusk to seek those who might violate curfew. When, the following morning, he had not returned home, his young wife Matilda had sought out Master Hugh de Singleton, surgeon and bailiff of the manor. Two days later Alan’s corpse was discovered in the hedge, at the side of the track to St Andrew’s Chapel. His throat had been torn out – his head was half severed from his body – and his face, hands and forearms were lacerated with deep scratches. Master Hugh, meeting Hubert the coroner at the scene, listened carefully to the coroner’s surmise that a wolf had caused the great wound. And yet …if so, why was there no blood?
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Unquiet Bones
$14.99Add to cartUctred thought he had discovered pig bones. He did not know or care why they were in the cesspit at the base of Bampton Castle wall. Then he found the skull. Uctred is a tenant, bound to the land of Lord Gilbert, third Baron Talbot, lord of Bampton Castle, and had slaughtered many pigs. He knew the difference between human and pig skulls. Lord Gilbert called for me to inspect the bones. All knew whose bones they must be. They were not. Hugh de Singleton, fourth son of a minor knight in Wyclif’s England, had had some good fortune. Newly trained as a surgeon, he was staring from his Oxford window, hoping for clients, when Lord Gilbert was kicked by his groom’s horse. Hugh’s successful treatment of the suffering Lord led to an invitation to set up his practice in the village of Bampton – and, before long, the request to identify some bones…