Sarah Hawkswood

The much-feared and hated Eudo - the Lord Bishop of Winchester's clerk - is bludgeoned to death in Pershore Abbey and laid before the altar in the attitude of a penitent. Everyone who had contact with him had reason to dislike him, but who had reason to kill him? The Sheriff of Worcestershire's thief taker, wily Serjeant Catchpoll, and his new and unwanted superior, Undersheriff Hugh Bradecote, have to find the answer. And as the claustrophobic walls of the Abbey close in on the suspects, the killer strikes again. Previously published as The Lord Bishop's Clerk.

Servant of Death

October 1143. His task dispatched, a mysterious archer melts back into the forest leaving a pile of corpses in his wake. The lord Sheriff of Worcester cannot ignore such a brazen attack on the salt road from Wich, nor the death of a nobleman in the wrong place at the wrong time. And so Hugh Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll are dispatched to hunt an elusive killer and his gang, and put a stop to the mounting attacks. But it is not easy to get the culprits in their sights with a reeve keen to keep his position at all costs, a lord with his own ends to serve and a distrusting and vengeful widow to whom Bradecote is increasingly attracted. ‘Thoroughly engaging and beautifully written . . . A page-turner’ Mystery People The third instalment in the Bradecote and Catchpoll series.

Bradecote and Catchpoll 3

Marked to Die

September 1143. Serjeant Catchpoll hopes a fire at a Worcester silversmith's is just an accident, but when a charred corpse is discovered following a second fire, he has no choice but to call in the undersheriff, Hugh Bradecote, to help find the culprit. Bradecote may be new to the job compared to his weather-beaten, wily and experienced colleague, but his analytical eye is soon hard at work. With further fires, a hooded figure stalking the streets, and a possible murder that has gone undiscovered for some months, the duo must avoid getting more than their fingers burnt as they piece together the arsonist's vengeful motive.

Bradecote and Catchpoll

Ordeal by Fire

A Bradecote and Catchpoll Investigation

Lord Bishop's Clerk

Whose was the hand that poisoned Godfrey Bowyer? Bradecote and Catchpoll are on the trail of the killer. January, 1145. Godfrey Bowyer, the best but least likeable bow maker in Worcester, dies an agonising death by poisoning. Although similarly struck down after the same meal, his wife Blanche survives. The number of people who could have administered the poison should mean a very short investigation for the Sheriff's men, Hugh Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll, but perhaps someone was pulling the strings, and that widens the net considerably. Could it be the cast-out younger brother or perhaps Orderic the Bailiff, whose wife may have had to endure Godfrey's attentions? Could it even be the wife herself? With Bradecote eager to return to his manor and worried about his wife's impending confinement, and Underserjeant Walkelin trying to get his mother to accept his choice of bride, there are distractions aplenty, though Serjeant Catchpoll will not let them get in the way of solving this case.

A Taste for Killing

The first in a new series of 12th-century murder mysteries, perfect for fans of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series June 1143: the Lord Bishop of Winchester's Clerk is bludgeoned to death in Pershore Abbey, and laid before the altar in the attitude of a penitent. Everyone who had contact with him had reason to dislike him, but who had reason to kill him? The Sheriff of Worcestershire's thief taker, the wily Serjeant Catchpoll, and his new and unwanted superior, Acting Under-Sheriff Hugh Bradecote, have to find the answer when nobody wants the murderer apprehended—until the next death.

The Lord Bishop's Clerk

April, 1155. Thorgar the Ploughman is found by the bloodied body of Father Edmund, a village priest in Ripple, and is summarily hanged for being caught in the act, despite his insistence that he is innocent. His sister goes to Worcester to seek justice for her brother, and the lord Sheriff sends Hugh Bradecote, with Serjeant Catchpoll and Underserjeant Walkelin, to discover the truth. They soon find that the ploughman was indeed blameless, but uncover strong motives among the other residents and some unpleasant secrets in Ripple. Was it the priest's own wrongdoing that led to his death, or a whisper of treasure long lost and now re-discovered?

The Intriguing Medieval Mystery Series

Too Good to Hang

September 1143. Sergeant Catchpoll hopes a fire at a Worcester silversmith's is just an accident, but when there is a second fire, and a charred corpse is discovered, he has no choice but to call in the undersheriff, Hugh Bradecote, to help find the culprit. With further fires, a hooded figure stalking the streets, and a possible murder that has gone undiscovered for some months, the duo have to work together to avoid getting more than their fingers burnt in this puzzling investigation.

Ordeal by Fire (16pt Large Print Edition)

April 1144. A body is found floating in Fladbury mill leat, a man in green who has been stabbed but not robbed. The lord sheriffââ,¬â,,¢s trio discover him to be an Evesham horse dealer, who has a beautiful young wife who ââ,¬Ëoestraysââ,¬â,,¢. Did the wife or one of her lovers get rid of him? What is the connection with the lord of Harvington, who wed the manââ,¬â,,¢s sister, and how did that lady meet her death? What connection is there with the defrocked monk who worked on some leases for the lord and was hanged for theft, and where is the horse dealersââ,¬â,,¢ horse? The trio have to work seamlessly together to unravel the thread that links seemingly disparate deaths before even more people die, and in the process keep Walkelin from the noose.

Vale of Tears

January, 1144. Hugh Bradecote does not want his betrothed heading off on pilgrimage to the shrine of St Edgyth at Polesworth, but the Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy and his entourage of monks seem Heaven-sent as escorts, right up until they are captured by a renegade who wants his forger out of the lord sheriff's cells; a renegade who loathes the Benedictines, and kills for pleasure. Against a backdrop of a hard winter and even a frozen River Severn, Bradecote and Catchpoll are struggling to rescue the clerics, and Christina, before a psychopath does his worst, the lord sheriff loses patience, and Bradecote cracks under the pressure.

A Bradecote and Catchpoll Mystery

Hostage to Fortune

Bradecote is a minor landowner and newly appointed under-sheriff. His sergeant, Catchpoll, is a weather-beaten, wily and experienced thief taker whose philosophy is that to catch a villain you need to be a more effective villain than him. Bradecote though quite new to the job brings an effectively analytical eye to the investigation. September 1143. Serjeant Catchpoll hopes a fire at a Worcester silversmith's is just an accident, but when a charred corpse is discovered following a second fire, he has no choice but to call in the undersheriff, Hugh Bradecote, to help find the culprit. Bradecote may be new to the job compared to his weather-beaten, wily and experienced colleague, but his analytical eye is soon hard at work. With further fires, a hooded figure stalking the streets, and a possible murder that has gone undiscovered for some months, the duo must avoid getting more than their fingers burnt as they piece together the arsonist's vengeful motive.

January, 1145. Godfrey Bowyer, the best but least likeable bow maker in Worcester, dies an agonising death by poisoning. Although similarly struck down after the same meal, his wife Blanche survives. The number of people who could have administered the poison should mean a very short investigation for the Sheriff's men, Hugh Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll, but perhaps someone was pulling the strings, and that widens the net considerably. Could it be the cast-out younger brother or perhaps Orderic the Bailiff, whose wife may have had to endure Godfrey's attentions? Could it even be the wife herself? With Bradecote eager to return to his manor and worried about his wife's impending confinement, and Underserjeant Walkelin trying to get his mother to accept his choice of bride, there are distractions aplenty, though Serjeant Catchpoll will not let them get in the way of solving this case.

A Medieval Mystery

‘A series that started well and grows stronger all the time. Both characterisation and historical detail are impeccable and the plot is intriguing and cleverly interwoven' Mystery People August 1144. Osbern de Lench is known far and wide as a hard master, whose temper is perpetually frayed. After riding to survey his land and the incoming harvest from the top of the nearby hill, his horse returns to the hall riderless and the lifeless body of the lord is found soon after. Was it the work of thieves, or something closer to home? With an heir who is cast in the same hot-tempered mould, sworn enemies for neighbours, and something amiss in the relationship between Osbern and his wife, undersheriff Hugh Bradecote, the wily Serjeant Catchpoll and apprentice Walkelin have suspects aplenty. ‘Ms Hawkswood clearly knows her stuff, both as a historian and a crafter of mysteries' Historical Novels Society

The must-read mediaeval mysteries series

Blood Runs Thicker

1144. When a man is found stabbed to death, he provides the link tying together several seemingly random deaths. But with a multitude of suspects, who's to blame?

‘The characters and descriptions of medieval life are thoroughly engaging ... A page-turner’ Mystery People June 1144. When the naked corpse of an unknown man is discovered and the Prince of Powys’s messenger fails to reach Earl Robert of Gloucester, Bradecote, Catchpoll and Walkelin head to Wales to confirm his identity, and piece together evidence that the dead man deserved a noose rather than a dagger. Retracing his steps leads them to a manor with a sarcastic lord, a neglected wife, a bitter mother and a fevered brother, all amidst folk who do not want the truth uncovered. The lord sheriff’s men have to unravel a knot where the law and justice seem to be in opposition. The sixth instalment in the Bradecote and Catchpoll series.

Bradecote and Catchpoll 6

Faithful Unto Death

July 1144. Ricolde, ‘the finest whore in Worcester’, is found butchered on an island a few miles up the River Severn. How did she get there, who killed her, and why? Uncovering details of her life and her past reveal a woman with hidden depths and hidden miseries which are fundamental to the answers, but time has cast a thick veil over the killer’s identity. The lord Sheriff’s men have a trail that went cold over two decades ago, and evidence that contradicts itself. In a place Catchpoll knows inside out, he finds things new even to him, and then the case becomes personal.

The evocative mediaeval mystery series

River of Sins

'Hawkswood clearly knows her stuff, both as a historian and a crafter of mysteries' Historical Novel Society 1144. The body of Durand Wuduweard, the unpopular keeper of the King’s Forest of Feckenham, is discovered beside his hearth, his corpse rendered barely identifiable by sharp teeth. Hushed whispers of a man-wolf spread swiftly and Sheriff William de Beauchamp’s men, Bradecote and Catchpoll, have to find out who killed Durand and why, amidst superstitious villagers, raids upon manors and further grim deaths. Who commands the wolf, and where will its fangs strike next?

The spellbinding mediaeval mysteries series

Wolf at the Door

The body of Durand Wuduweard, the unpopular keeper of the King's Forest of Feckenham, is discovered beside his hearth, his corpse rendered barely identifiable by sharp teeth. Hushed whispers of a man-wolf spread swiftly...

Sarah Hawkswood

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