Product Description

In 1517 the English armies have defeated and killed James IV of Scotland at Flodden and James’s widow-queen, Margaret, sister to Henry VIII, has fled to England, leaving her crown under a Council of Regency.

Roger Shallot is drawn into a web of mystery and murder by his close friendship with Benjamin Daunbey, the nephew of Cardinal Wolsey, first minister of Henry VIII. Benjamin and Roger are ordered into Margaret’s household to resolve certain mysteries as well as to bring about her restoration to Scotland.

They begin by questioning Selkirk, a half-mad physician imprisoned in the Tower. He is subsequently found poisoned in a locked chamber guarded by soldiers. The only clue is a poem of riddles. However, the poem contains the seeds for other gruesome murders. The faceless assassin always leaves a white rose, the mark of Les Blancs Sangliers, a secret society plotting the overthrow of the Tudor monarchy...

This novel was previously published under the pseudonym Michael Clynes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #213764 in Books
• Published on: 1992-06-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 244 pages

About the Author
Paul Doherty was born in Middlesbrough. He studied History at Liverpool and Oxford Universities and obtained a doctorate for his thesis on Edward II and Queen Isabella. He is now headmaster of a school in north-east London and lives with his family in Essex.

Customer Reviews

MAJESTIC WRITING FROM CLYNES
If you haven't tried this series of books yet, written under the Michael Clynes pseudonym by the ubiquitous Paul Doherty,then I advise you to do so before they disappear. The stories centre around the misadventures of Roger Shallot as recounted from his sinful old age.Shallot is a marvellous character and deserves a far larger following than he has...perhaps this is a result of the obscure pseudonym used by a very popular author.Roger is a rogue and a villain,but so engaging that the reader soon becomes entangled in the complex mysteries he and his master Benjamin Daunbey are given to solve..usually by the ever threatening figure of King Henry the Eighth. The plots are always original and interesting and populated by a wonderful cast of characters. Give these books a try and maybe we'll one day get the long-overdue next installment !

Good, But Not His Best
This is one of the few books written by Paul Doherty (Michael Clyne's) that I had not read. First published in 1991, Doherty's writing style has vastly improved since then and he has become a leading light on the Medieval Murder Mystery scene.
The book is set at the time of Henry VIII, and features Sir Roger Shallot, who is reciting his first journal to an old monk. The book has plenty of murder and intrigue involving Shallot, his friend and master Benjamin Daunbey, cardinal Wolsey and King Henry, and as with most of Doherty's books a puzzling plot for the reader to try to unfold, each suspect for one reason or another is eventually discounted until the final chapter.

I enjoyed the book, but found it a little disjointed in the writing. As I said before, Doherty in his later novels has honed his writing style to a fine art.

You can't always get it right
I enjoy Doherty's books in general - I have read all the Hugh Corbett titles and a number of the others. However, the hero of the "Tudor" series is too unlikeable to make one want to spend time in his company and the attempt at humour - I suppose the likeable rogue is the author's intention- does not succeed.

Forgive Doherty but avoid the series if there is one.