P.C. Doherty

Page Updated: 05/03/03

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P.C. Doherty - Page 3

Ghostly Murders, being the Priest's Tale

Paperback - Headline (1999)

First British Edition Headline (1998)

The Mask of Ra
Paul Doherty’s first novel set in Ancient Egypt
His great battles against the sea raiders in the Nile Delta have left Pharaoh Tuthmosis II weak and frail, but he finds solace in victory and in the welcome he is sure to receive on his return to Thebes. Across the river from Thebes, however, there are those who do not relish his homecoming, and a group of assassins has taken a witch to pollute the Pharaoh's unfinished tomb.
Reunited with his wife, Hatusu, and his people, Tuthmosis stands before the statue of Amun-Ra, the roar of the crowd and the fanfare of trumpets ringing in his ears. But within an hour he is dead and the people of Thebes cannot forget the omen of the wounded doves flying overhead.
Rumour runs rife, speculation sweeps the royal city and Hatusu vows to uncover the truth. With the aid of Amerotke, a respected judge of Thebes, she embarks on a path destined to reveal the great secrets of Egypt.
The Mask of RA is a compelling and dramatic novel set against the background of Egypt's 18th dynasty - a time of great change, as war-like Pharaohs fought to control not only the tribes on their western and southern borders, but to bring their subjects firmly under their rule.
'The historical mystery genre is still thriving and Paul Doherty's The Mask of Ra is the best of its kind since the death of Ellis Peters. As ever, Doherty dazzles with his knowledge and intimate feel for ancient Egypt' Time Out
‘A rare example of historical fiction that isn’t overloaded with history and doesn’t give suspense short shrift.’ Publishers Weekly
'Paul Doherty has a lively sense of history' New Statesman
'A historical world of terror that glitters with evil and greed, reeks with the odour of Hell and fascinates with the stare of the deadliest serpent' Darlington Northern Echo
'Gruesome and gripping' Newcastle- upon-Tyne Evening Chronicle
'Paul Doherty's latest offering is a real page-turner' Peterborough Evening Telegraph
'Doherty writes well and his fascination for history comes off the page' The Express
'Teems with colour, energy and spills' Time Out
'Intrigued from the fist pages...gripping' The Historical Novels Review

First British Edition Headline (1998)

The Devil's Domain
See Review by Michael Jecks
The Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan
'A time of bloody tribulation! Of horrid sights! The season of murder and subtle trickery!' Thus proclaims the chronicler of Westminster in the summer of 1380, as the British and the French wage war on the Narrow Seas.
In Hawkmere Manor, a lonely, gloomy dwelling place, otherwise known as the 'Devil's Domain', a Frenchman lies dying, poisoned by an unknown hand. He is one of five prisoners, held to ransom by the Regent John of Gaunt. Sir John Cranston and his secretarius, Brother Athelstan, are summoned to investigate the mysterious death in the hope of averting French retaliation, but their path is riddled with obstacles. How could the murderer have entered the Frenchman's chamber when the room was locked from within and the window nothing but a narrow aperture?
Their aid, Sir Maurice Maltravers, is more of a hindrance than a help, as he faces the misery of heartbreak. Lady Angelica, the woman he intended to marry, has been whisked away to a convent by her tyrannical and disapproving father. It soon becomes apparent that only when the lovers have been reunited will any progress be made in the investigation ...
'Medieval London comes vividly to life ... Doherty's depictions of medieval characters and manners of thought, from the highest to the lowest, ringing true' Publishers Weekly
'Vitality in the cityscape ... angst in the mystery; it's Peters minus the herbs but plus a few crates of sack' Oxford Times
'If you like inspector Morse, you'll love Brother Athelstan, and the images of the past that [Mr Doherty] conjures into life' Prima
'As always, the author invokes the medieval period in all its muck as well as glory, filling the pages with pungent smells and description. He populates them with fictional and historical personages. Pomp, panoply and poverty are vividly recreated. The author brings years of research to his writing; his mastery of the period as well as a disciplined writing schedule have led to a rapidly increasing body of work and a growing reputation' Mystery News

Paperback - Headline (1998)

The Haunting
A medieval horror novel.
In October 1866, Father Oliver Grafield, a Catholic priest and exorcist, is brought from his parish work in South Essex for an interview with Archbishop Manning of Westminster. Oliver is accompanied by his sister Emma; she has always been concerned about her brother's welfare. Oliver is a young man of gentle appearance; a hard-working, committed priest. He has extraordinary gifts of exorcism and 'divining spirits'.
The Archbishop tells Oliver that Lady Alice Seaton, a widowed member of the old Catholic aristocracy, and owner of Candleton Hall in Norfolk, has appealed to the Church for assistance in allaying the terrifying and haunting experiences taking place at the Hall, and Oliver is being sent there to investigate.
Within hours of their arrival, Oliver and Emma have first-hand experience of the phenomena: pools of blood form an the floor; a woman dressed in black walks the Long Gallery; the sound of knocking; cries in the night and hurried footsteps and, above all, a sense of malevolence which seeps like a marsh mist through the house. Painstakingly, Oliver, a natural scholar, delves into the family secrets of the Seatons and finds chilling truths which span four centuries.

The Soul Slayer
A suspenseful and thrilling new novel, set against the rich panorama of sixteenth-century England and Russia.
In the summer of 1562, change comes to the Essex village of Dunmow with the arrival of parson Henry Frogmore - who turns out to be a sinister warlock, more interested in the black arts than the teachings of religion. But in the village outcast and a Catholic priest, he finds powerful opponents who are willing to fight him.
Praise for Paul Doherty: 'A story of terror, black magic and mystery set in the middle ages... teeming with colour, energy and spills' Time Out
'His best yet' Crime Time
Paul Doherty lives near Epping Forest.

Hardback
Headline (1997)

Ghostly Murders, being the Priest's Tale
Ghostly Murders is the fourth in P.C. Doherty's series in which he uses characters from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
This is The Priest's Tale...
Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims have been caught by a sudden spring shower just as they've passed a deserted village. The sight of its decaying church and derelict cemetery provokes the poor Priest to tears - so when they get lost, and have to take shelter in its ruins, it is he who tells a mysterious tale of ancient evil, greed, devilish murder and chilling hauntings...
There was once a young man, Philip Trumpington, who was appointed parish priest of Scawsby in Kent - a pleasant, prosperous village with an old church, built many centuries earlier. Philip is accompanied there by his brother Edmund and their close friend, stonemason Stephen Merkle. They secure permission to pull down the old church and build a new one outside the village at a place called High Mount. However, the old church and its graveyard harbour grim secrets.
Years earlier a group of Templars had been brutally massacred out on the marshes near Scawsby. Their attackers were led by a former vicar of Scawsby, Romenal, a warlock and a sorcerer. Philip soon discovers the church and presbytery are haunted by 'The Watchers' and by the ghost of the former wicked priest. The church holds other secrets: buried treasure, the identity of the old 'Corpse Woman' who lives in the cemetery and a terrible curse which scars the lives of the villagers. Philip realises that a great and ancient evil pervades the church which must be brought into the light, resolved and reparation made. But the price is great - and takes the poor Priest and his brother, the Ploughman, to Canterbury to pray before the 'blissful bones' of St Thomas a Becket.