Hawkenlye Mysteries Books In Publication Order
- Fortune Like the Moon (1999)
- Ashes of the Elements (2000)
- The Tavern in the Morning (2000)
- The Chatter of the Maidens (2001)
- The Faithful Dead (2002)
- A Dark Night Hidden (2003)
- Whiter Than the Lily (2004)
- Girl in a Red Tunic (2005)
- Heart of Ice (2006)
- The Enchanter’s Forest (2007)
- The Paths of the Air (2008)
- The Joys of My Life (2008)
- The Rose of the World (2011)
- The Song of the Nightingale (2012)
- The Winter King (2014)
- A Shadowed Evil (2015)
- The Devil’s Cup (2017)
Aelf Fen Mysteries Books In Publication Order
- Out of the Dawn Light (2009)
- Mist Over the Water (2010)
- Music of the Distant Stars (2010)
- The Way Between the Worlds (2011)
- Land of the Silver Dragon (2013)
- Blood of the South (2015)
- The Night Wanderer (2016)
- The Rufus Spy (2018)
- City of Pearl (2019)
- The Lammas Wild (2021)
Gabriel Taverner Mystery Books In Publication Order
- A Rustle of Silk (2016)
- The Angel in the Glass (2018)
- The Indigo Ghosts (2020)
- Magic in the Weave (2022)
A World’s End Bureau Victorian Mystery Books In Publication Order
- The Woman Who Spoke to Spirits (2019)
- The Outcast Girls (2020)
Hawkenlye Mysteries Book Covers
Aelf Fen Mysteries Book Covers
Gabriel Taverner Mystery Book Covers
A World’s End Bureau Victorian Mystery Book Covers
Alys Clare Books Overview
Fortune Like the Moon
IN A SACRED PLACE, UNHOLY PASSIONS LEAD TO MURDER…
Sunlight shone on the dark crimson blood, making it shine like a jewel…
thus the body of Gunnora, a young nun from Hawkenlye Abbey, is found with her throat cut. Felons have been released from English prisons at the command of the new king, Richard Plantagenet, and suspicion centers on them. But when Josse d’Acquin, the king’s knight, arrives from France to investigate, he discovers treacherous currents of lust, greed, and anger flowing closer to the Abbey, and in the haunted Weald of Kent, whose woods hide strange secrets…
With the help of the worldly, beautiful Abbess Helewise, Josse ferrets out an array of suspects. Their one precious piece of evidence is a gold, rubied cross. But the shocking truth of Gunnora’s death is an elusive and far more dangerous prize. AUTHORBIO: ALYS CLARE lives in Tonbridge, England, in the area where Fortune Like the Moon is set. This is the first in a series of medieval mysteries set in the Weald of Kent.
Ashes of the Elements
In this, Book II of the Hawkenlye Trilogy, the Abbess Helewise takes on another strange case with her French partner, Josse d’Acquin. A lumberjack in the Wealken forest has been found dead. The locals would have it that the mythical Forest People are to blame for his violent end. But when the Abbess Helewise steps in to investigate, she thinks a supernatural solution too easy an answer. She consults her friend Josse d’Acquin, a French soldier of fortune who has helped her many a time. He, concerned about the safety of the abbey, ventures into the forest himself, only to find in this so called haunted wood something that terrifies even him. Now the two must reconcile superstition with their better judgement.
The Tavern in the Morning
At the end of a dark and dreary market day, Goody Anne’s inn at Tonbridge is finally settling down for the night. But while Anne’s serving maid and boy finish up their chores, a man lies dying in the guest chamber poisoned by a piece of pie made by Goody Anne herself. Josse d’Acquin, a knight with a knack for solving mysteries, is troubled by the news of the stranger’s death. Josse has been a regular visitor to Goody Anne’s, and he hates to think that Anne or her fine cooking has fallen suspect. He rides off to the scene of the crime and starts his own investigation. When Josse discovers wolf’s bane in the remnants of the pie, he knows that someone must have tampered with Anne’s cooking. And when he learns that a charming, handsome nobleman ordered a piece of that very pie, Josse is convinced that the poison was meant for this upper class guest, and not for the poor stranger who died alone in Anne’s guest chamber. After failing to persuade the Sheriff that the death was suspicious, Josse turns to his old friend, the formidable Abbess Helewise. Weakened from a severe bout of fever, the Abbess nonetheless provides a thread of common sense as Josse follows the trail of murder into the ancient, mysterious Wealden Forest, and finds something there that will change his life forever…
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The Chatter of the Maidens
The serenity of Hawkenlye Abbey has been disturbed by the arrival of a new nun and her two young sisters. Recently orphaned, Alba has left her convent in Ely to take her grieving sisters from the scene of their sorrow. Abbess Helewise is not convinced of her selflessness; Sister Alba is a mean spirited and turbulent presence. Her anxieties grow when her friend Josse d Acquin is brought to Hawkenlye, half dead from blood poisoning. Then a body is discovered. And one of the sisters goes missing. In order to discover the truth behind Alba’s flight to Hawkenlye, Helewise sets off for Ely. She uncovers not only a clever network of lies, but also, hidden in a burnt out cottage, the horrific remains of a dead man…
The Faithful Dead
An elderly pilgrim dies in Hawkenlye Vale. Nothing suspicious: he was gravely ill when he arrived. Meanwhile, Josse d Acquin has a visit from Prince John. Accompanied by his seer, the Prince urgently seeks news of a stranger, Galbertius Sidonius. Hurrying to Hawkenlye Abbey to enlist the help of Abbess Helewise, Josse finds she has a problem of her own: a decomposing body has been discovered, naked and killed by an expert hand. When Josse’s brother, Yves, arrives, the three are hurled into a mystery whose roots reach back further than the Second Crusade.
A Dark Night Hidden
Josse D Acquin and the Abbess Helewise are appalled by the fanatical new priest, Father Micah, but are even more horrified when his body turns up by the side of the road. And, when it appears that a band of evangelical heretics, whom Micah condemned to the stake, might be behind his death, the Abbess is torn between her compassion for their suffering and her duty to the church. When Josse realizes that his desire to save the heretics cannot be condoned by Helewise, he is forced to act against her wishes, risking the greatest friendship he has. For the Abbess, her friendship with Josse is deepening the longer he stays at the abbey, as is her awareness of his attractions as a man
Whiter Than the Lily
Invited by a neighbor to meet new friends, Josse d Acquin is struck by the beauty of the young wife and the age gap between her and her wealthy husband. But first impressions can be deceptive, and soon a tragic death sets Josse off on a trail of danger and intrigue. For in order to untangle the terrible secrets of the past, he is forced to venture to a place of bloody legend, home to a brutal race known as Deadfall. The Abbess Helewise is engaged by events closer to home. The frightful death she witnessed is terrible enough, but to have her nuns held responsible is far worse. Helewise finds herself drawn down the same mysterious path taken by Josse, as the peril he faces reaches out to the Abbey itself…
Girl in a Red Tunic
Richard the Lionheart is still being held hostage after his crusade; in paying his ransom, his people have been made paupers. Abbess Helewise is struggling to keep the Abbey going through a brutal winter, fending off the starvation of her nuns and the townspeople. In the midst of this hardship, a loved one returns to Helewise after twenty years, in desperate need of help. Her son. Then a man is found strangled, dangling from a tree near the Abbey. The next day, her son flees. Helewise and Knight Josse d Acquin must now investigate the past to a time before Helewise took the veil. Was her handsome husband and her enigmatic father in law all that they seemed? And can she prevent another terrible murder or will the sins of the fathers be laid upon her innocent son?
Heart of Ice
It is February 1194. A very sick man is making for Hawkenlye Abbey in the desperate hope of a miracle cure. In his delirium he sees the Virgin Mary, the same miraculous vision that led to the foundation of the Abbey. He watches the beautiful woman approach and, sinking to his knees, he begins to pray. She is the last person he will ever see. The winter cold intensifies, the Vale lake freezes over, roads and tracks become treacherous. It is only when the thaw sets in that a corpse is discovered in the lake, a fatal wound to its head. With nothing on the body to identify the victim except for an apothecary’s remedy, Abbess Helewise asks her trusted friend Sir Josse d’Acquin to help her find out who he was. As Josse sets out on his mission, a party of sick people arrive seeking help. The sickness looks terrifyingly like plague…
The Enchanter’s Forest
It is midsummer 1195. An impoverished man claims to have discovered Merlin’s tomb and builds a hostel for pilgrims while spreading the word that his find is a place of miracles. This blasphemous intrusion is deeply resented both by the community at Hawkenlye Abbey and the pagan people of the forest. Though the finger of blame points at both communities following the man s murder, the perennial sleuths Josse d Acquin and Abbess Helewise soon discover that other parties also had an interest in his death. His wife does not seem distressed at his passing, possibly because she is pregnant despite having not slept with her husband for nearly six months.
The Paths of the Air
The new novel in the popular Hawkenlye series Autumn 1196. A secretive stranger arrives at New Winnowlands, and Sir Josse dAcquin guesses that he is a returning Crusader. Josse seeks the assistance of Abbess Helewise of Hawkenlye to have the mans injuries treated in the infirmary. But then the various demons who are on the mans trail begin to turn up, and Josse realizes that his mysterious guest has brought with him a terrible secret…
The Joys of My Life
The new novel in the Hawkenlye series May 1199. Abbess Helewise has been summoned by Queen Eleanor to discuss the building of a chapel at Hawkenlye Abbey. Meanwhile, Sir Josse d Acquin is on the trail of a group of mysterious knights rumoured to be devil worshippers. As Helewise heads for home, Josse follows his quarry to Chartres, where he meets the last person he expects: Joanna. And she has grave problems of her own…
Out of the Dawn Light
A brand new medieval mystery from the author of the Hawkenlye series England, 1087. On her sister’s wedding day, Lassair meets an attractive and enigmatic stranger who brings a breath of the fascinating outside world to her backwater Fenland village. When he asks Lassair to use her unique talents to help locate a mysterious treasure she accepts, despite the dangers. But this is no ordinary treasure hunt; the object of the perilous search is five hundred years old and has a terrifying power of its own…
Mist Over the Water
The second in a brand new medieval mystery series from the author of the popular Hawkenlye series On Ely Island, the Normans are proclaiming their authority with the construction of a magnificent cathedral. When Morcar, fishing for eels nearby, is attacked, his cousin Lassair is sent to nurse him. Morcar tells Lassair a frightening tale of assassins in the dark and a brief vision of horror. Then the killers strike again, and, as the secret hidden within the walls of Ely Abbey claims more victims, Lassair is forced to face a challenge that she fears is far beyond her…
Music of the Distant Stars
The new Lassair mystery from the author of the Hawkenlye books Very early one summer morning, Lassair slips out of her Fenland village on a deeply personal mission and discovers the body of a young woman, hidden where it has no place to be. The girl’s identity is quickly discovered but, as she wonders who killed her and why, Lassair swiftly becomes mystified and frightened. Why did a sweet natured seamstress have to die? Suspicion soon creeps uncomfortably close to home; then another body is found…
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