Murder and Intrigue this Summer!

Kindest regards to all visitors and readers. Summer is here and finally the sunshine has arrived! I'm not a car driver but when I am being driven along the lanes of Essex and stare out at the lonely fields, the dark copses, the soaring hedgerows, I wonder what grisly secrets lie buried there? There is something about dark, green, dripping woods in the middle of rolling fields which conjures up silent murder and treacherous plotting. I always think the English countryside lends itself so well to murder.

In my next novel, Hugh Corbett travels into a snowbound Essex in pursuit of a hideous killer. I hope to deal with a number of themes in Corbett's new adventure "Nightshade"; the robbery of the Crown Jewels at Westminster, those bizarre religious groups who wandered Mediaeval Europe, the dramatic and bloody fall of Acre, the last Western stronghold in Palestine, as well as one other phenomenon which many people think is peculiar to our own age rather than the past. I have previously discussed serial killers, and my belief that they are not simply a manifestation of the 20th or 21st century. Such Sons of Cain must have gone on the rampage in other centuries but got away with it! The other fascinating phenomenon I wish to analyse is that of the lone sniper. An individual who takes a high-powered rifle to kill, without rhyme or reason, anyone who comes into his sight. Quite remarkable, this also happened with a weapon just as deadly in the Middle Ages. Time and again the 'Coroner Rolls of London' describe someone climbing into a church tower or some other high place, armed with long bow and arrows, to loose devastation and death. I touch on this in 'Nightshade' as well as create (what I hope) will be a superb locked room mystery in a lonely house on a snowbound island.

My other passion at the moment is studying the Death of Kings. Recently I came across some remarkable new evidence that Henry VIII on his death bed expressed deep contrition about the lies he had spread about Anne Boleyn. A great surprise, bearing in mind that Henry VIII rarely apologised for anything! However, what I find truly dramatic is the death of Elizabeth in 1603, definitely full of mystery and intrigue. And, of course, of Edward IV, the news of whose death was published a day early in York! This undergrowth of history really does fascinate me. Plenty of food for thought in the coming summer months, and for now I must get back to studying once again the delicate art of murder. Thanks for reading!

Murder's Immortal Mask

In April, the paperback edition of "The Templar" will be published along with "Murder's Immortal Mask" in hardback. The latter takes us back to 4th Century Rome and the court of Constantine. The root cause of the plot is hideous murder.

When I was composing the novel I recalled two salient facts in the history of murder. The first was an essay by Freud in the 19th Century, he argued that human beings are killers. He was following Hobbes who believed that our society is red in tooth and claw. I am not saying I fully accept that but Freud posted a very simple test, he claims we all kill each other in our thoughts whilst only some of us put that into action. I found it a chilling concept. It certainly influenced me. Do we all carry the mark of Cain in us? Is it in our DNA and yet, at the same time, we also have a deep repulsion for murder, for assassins, for anyone who takes human life.

My second consideration was serial killers. Naturally these figure prominently in the history and analysis of modern crime. They tend to be regarded as a recent development, to be found in a certain gender and age group but, of course, we only know about serial killers because of computers and the considerable advances in the collection and analysis of data. Yet, surely, serial killers must have operated at various times and different places in history. For them it must have been easier to hide their bloody handywork in a society bereft of our technology.

Moreover, more opportunities existed for such deviants to channel their murderous energy. One example are the "Ecorcheurs", bands of mercenaries who terrorised Normandy after Henry V's victory at Agincourt. According to one historian, their occupation of France, 1420 – 1430s, was worse than the Nazis between 1940-1944. Warfare was not their only 'disguise'. In mediaeval England certain people could travel the length and breadth of the kingdom. Surely, amongst the lambs there must have been prowling wolves? "Murder's Immortal Mask" explores the possibility of such a killer in Imperial Rome and the dramatic hunt which ensues to bring him to justice.