Paul Doherty: Murder Most Holy Review

Another very good tale of murder and mystery in early 15th Century London. Dominicans are disappearing or being found dead in Blackfriars; Brother Athelstan and Coroner Sir John Cranston are called in. Under the sceptical and beady eye of two Inquisitors they have to prove murder, find corpses and solve the crimes.

In the meantime, Athelstan has his own skeleton to worry about, found under the church during renovation work. Sir John adds to the list of troubles: Regent John Of Gaunt has trapped him into taking a wager of 1,000 crowns, money he does not have. Solve a locked room puzzle or rely on the Regent to cover the debt - and thus become one of his creatures.

I'm running the village now

Right, listen up you people. It's two months since SamCam and I moved into this village and frankly, it's a shambles. I went to a Parish Council meeting the other day and there were people wearing cardigans, for God's sake. Some of them women. Well, that's all got to stop.

I have decided to take over the running of the village. I will control the finances of the whole area and education will be in the hands of little Mike Gove - I'm sure some of you remember the shop he used to have selling pictures of himself and the Queen. Well, I know him from school and he's a sound chap, good exam results though a bit of a tick on the games field. I've asked George to step down from his role as landlord of the village pub (more of this anon) and he'll keep hold of the tin in which the PC stores the rates money. I'll keep hold of foreign affairs myself - I have some experience here with our Filipino nanny (I think she's Filipino - there's a touch of the tar brush anyway).

Paul Doherty: The Field Of Blood Review

There's a fine variety of murders in this Doherty novel, a historical whodunit that fairly gallops along. Three corpses in Brother Athelstan's parish, more buried in "the field of blood" and an unlikely murderess on the road to the gallows.

An itinerant preacher and a doxy enter an abandoned house, looking for a trysting place. They find a man standing over a corpse and he's not happy to be interrupted.

A serving maid stabs a drunken lecher; in her defence she raises greater crimes by the respected widow who runs the Paradise Tree, a prosperous tavern bordering the Thames. The evidence is stacked against the widow, she makes little effort to aid Athelstan or coroner Sir John Cranston as they investigate the accusation against her.