The Eve of Saint Hyacinth

The Author Kate Sedley was born in Bristol and it is probably no coincidence that the majority of the Roger Chapman books take place in and around the Bristol area. Kate was educated at the Red Maid's School in Westbury-on-Trym. She is married and has a son and a daughter. Kate Sedley's books about Roger Chapman, the pedlar come murder mystery sleuth are becoming more and more popular and rightly so. They are good entertaining reading with plots and backgrounds that have been well thought out and well researched. They are what I would call light reading (very much like the writing style of Paul Doherty or Bernard Knight, two other well known authors of medieval mysteries). This book is the fifth in the series. England has been suffering for years under the yolk of the Wars of the Roses and just when the country appears to be getting back to some normality King Edward IV decides to invade France. The year is 1475 and our investigative hero, Roger the Chapman has learnt of a plot to kill Richard of Gloucester. All Roger has to do now is discover who is behind the plot and expose them to the authorities.