Цикл книг «Джоан и Мэтью Сток» — 8 книг

Elizabethan England.

A country that is growing rich and powerful.

But, under the surface, there are matters savage and murderous, as well…

When a small players’ troupe come to perform for a lord and his lady, none of the rag-tag group shine more than the young players’ boy, with his flaxen hair and fine features.

The player boy had won a scullery maid’s heart, and it was she, at cock’s crow, who went searching for him in the stables where he slept.

But upon finding him dead - murdered in a most gruesome way - the maid’s heart is broken.

County Constable Matthew Stock, a humble clothier by trade, and his practical-minded wife Joan set about to get to the bottom of this horrendous crime.

Constable Matthew must search high and low, from a Lord’s castle to a disreputable inn, to find the person who dealt such an ungodly blow …

So impossible is the case that Matthew finds himself resenting the position of Constable, as every lead seems to be a dead end.

Magistrate Sir Henry Saltmarsh and his ominous secretary Varnell take great pleasure in scrutinising the honest Constable.

As their keen interest escalates, Matthew begins to suspect that they are less than honourable.

Between adulterous wives, less than holy priests and a brutally enforced political hierarchy, Constable Matthew has his work cut out for him if he is to keep his job and get justice for the murdered boy...

Elizabethan England.

A country that is growing rich and powerful.

But, under the surface, there are matters savage and murderous, as well…

When a small players’ troupe…

The wealthy jeweller to the nobility plots to betray the crown to Spain.

Matthew Stock’s young relation, Thomas, leaves home to apprentice himself to Castell, a jeweller in London. Then he disappears. Castell writes to say Thomas has gone to sea, but Stock decides he must investigate as such a move is unlike the boy.

While Stock is away, Thomas returns and tells Matthew’s wife Joan how the jeweller is trying to have him killed. He has discovered that Castell is blackmailing high-ranking members of Elizabeth’s court. Joan must rush to London to warn her husband. For Matthew has no idea of the danger he is in, asking the ruthless Castell about Thomas…

The wealthy jeweller to the nobility plots to betray the crown to Spain.

Matthew Stock’s young relation, Thomas, leaves home to apprentice himself to Castell, a jeweller in…

Three innocents stand accused of sorcery and soon no one is safe...

The town of Chelmsford is going mad with the frenzy of witch hunting. Neighbours accuse one another with no cause, hysterical at the sudden death of a townsman and sightings of an apparition of a dead young woman. County Constable Matthew Stock, a humble clothier by trade, and his practical-minded wife Joan must set things right.

As the village becomes inflamed with terror, Matthew cleverly begins to piece together a deceptively simple tale of innocence and guilt, heaven and hell, to reveal the long-hidden secrets behind the strange bewitchings...

Three innocents stand accused of sorcery and soon no one is safe...

The town of Chelmsford is going mad with the frenzy of witch hunting. Neighbours accuse one another with no…

An authentically detailed tale of murder and intrigue set in Elizabethan England.

Matthew Stock, country constable, becomes involved in murderous matters when he discovers that a bear, trained to kill dogs for the St. Bartholomew Fair, attended by Queen Elizabeth of England, has its sight set on a higher prize...

An authentically detailed tale of murder and intrigue set in Elizabethan England.

Matthew Stock, country constable, becomes involved in murderous matters when he discovers that…

A dark and suspenseful murder mystery engulfs Elizabethan England.

Sir John Challoner has been murdered, so why does no one want to help Joan and Matthew investigate?

The castle servants are sullen; the neighbouring gentry abusive. When someone hides the headless body of a serving maid in their chamber, even the level-headed Stocks fear the strange spirit of evil that haunts the castle. Before long, the bone-chilling outlines of something much deeper and darker than mere murder begin to take shape.…

A dark and suspenseful murder mystery engulfs Elizabethan England.

Sir John Challoner has been murdered, so why does no one want to help Joan and Matthew investigate?

The…

One by one, law students are dying.

All are deemed suicides, but in truth they are murders, and it befalls humble clothier Matthew Stock to unravel the truth. Moving into a chamber in the Middle Temple that had been the room of one of the victims, he pursues the ghostly killer.

Meanwhile Matthew’s wife Joan follows her nose through London’s bawdy Elizabethan streets, where she uncovers what she can scarcely believe: a secret connection between a filthy, dangerous tavern and the foul crimes her husband is risking his life to solve. Can they catch the killer before they become victims themselves?

One by one, law students are dying.

All are deemed suicides, but in truth they are murders, and it befalls humble clothier Matthew Stock to unravel the truth. Moving into a…

As Queen Elizabeth slowly dies, Puritans and Papists play a deep game of deception.

A plot is already afoot to unseat her principal advisor, Sir Robert Cecil. Therefore merchant-constable Matthew Stock, who considers Sir Robert his master, becomes a principal pawn. He is lured to the scene of a heinous murder - and the bloody knife next to the body turns out to be his own.

The crime calls for the penalty of death. Only Joan, Matthew’s wife, is able to save his neck from the gallows. That is, until the plotters, having bested Sir Robert and Matthew, turn their wicked attentions toward her - aiming to rid themselves of the one body who stands in their way…

As Queen Elizabeth slowly dies, Puritans and Papists play a deep game of deception.

A plot is already afoot to unseat her principal advisor, Sir Robert Cecil. Therefore…

In 1576, Sir Martin Frobisher made the first of three voyages in search of a Northwest Passage.

He got as far as Canada, and brought back to England two “proofs” that he had reached Cathay: some black stones that he claimed contained gold, and an Eskimo.

Frobisher’s Eskimo is given the name “Adam Nemo” and is set down on the estate of a wealthy landowner as a servant.

He learns the strange language of his captors, he performs his duties more than conscientiously, and he keeps to himself.

And then everything changes.

Visiting his only friend on a nearby farm, a deaf and mute youth named Nicholas, he finds the boy cowering in a corner and everywhere signs of a bloody massacre.

When the townsmen whom Adam summons arrive, they discover the mutilated bodies of the farmer, his wife, and their two youngest children in the well.

Merchant Matthew Stock tries to counteract the town’s growing hysteria, which fastens itself upon those they consider strangers — the “savage” and the “idiot.”

Matthew and his forthright wife Joan are firmly convinced of the pair’s innocence, and they are determined that the rule of law shall prevail.

There is more than one hair-raising episode, and a breathless pursuit through a snowstorm, before Joan Stock finally unearths the evidence to identify the real murderer…

Frobisher’s Savage takes Leonard Tourney’s Elizabethan mystery series to a higher level with a compelling story about the nature of blind prejudice.

In 1576, Sir Martin Frobisher made the first of three voyages in search of a Northwest Passage.

He got as far as Canada, and brought back to England two “proofs” that he had…