When the Eagle Hunts

It is winter in Camulodunum and the Roman legionaries are bored with inactivity.  Centurion Macro has led his optio, Cato to a couple of bars and subsequently a couple of brawls.  Meantime General Plautius is planning his next move with Vespasian, the commander of the Second Legion.

Shortly thereafter, the Second Legion marches out of Camulodunum.  Cato is happy to be away, while Macro is upset at leaving the beautiful Iceni, Boudica behind, despite having parted on bad terms.  The legion was off in search of Caratacus and his army of Britons.  The legion sets up a camp south of the Tamesis, and it is there that they receive news that a fierce sect of the Druids has the wife and children of General Plautius.  The Romans have been given 30 days to exchange their Druid hostages for Plautius' family.

When Cato and Macro volunteer to try to rescue Plautius' family, they are shocked to see that the two Britons who will be guiding them are Boudica and Prasutagus, her body guard.   Travelling into enemy territory could mean certain death for all four of them.

A search of an encampment and a sacred grove turn out to be fruitless.  The only remaining possibility is an armed fortress.  Can the quartet get the captives and return them safely without endangering all in the process?  Once again author Simon Scarrow has written an engaging historical novel of the beginnings of the Roman conquest of modern day England.  This is a book, which was hard to put down.  I look forward to reading the sequels.

Outlaw

Alan Dale has used his thieving skills as a lad to help his mother and himself survive under the brutal regime of the local sheriff.  One day he is caught and is about to be punished with the loss of his hand.  Fortunately he escapes, only to be taken to Robin Hood by his mother, who asks the outlaw to take the lad under his protection.  Robin agrees, however Alan is shocked when he sees how Robin's men administer his Justice.

Deep in Sherwood Forest, Alan's training begins.  It is not just the skills of a warrior that he is taught, but French and Latin.  He was learning to be a gentleman as well as a warrior.  There Alan also discovers a love for music.  After a summer of intensive training, Alan is physically changed.  Unfortunately Friar Tuck informs him that the village Alan came from has been destroyed by the sheriff, and his mother was killed in the raid.

Shortly after Christmas, the hideout and the people within are destroyed by the sheriff.  Fortunately Alan was away and was warned by a young girl by the name of Goody.  He and his musical mentor escape with the girl.  Rescued by Robin, Alan needs to get back into fighting condition.  Later he and his two friends are sent with Marie-Anne to Winchester, where she is a lady in waiting to the queen.  Before they leave, Robin gifts Alan with a flute.

Alan also has another role in Winchester, as a spy for Robin.  He discovers that the Sheriff of Nottingham wants to marry Marie-Anne.  Can Robin, Alan and the rest of his outlaw band save her from this ignominious end?

Author Angus Donald has put a new face to the Robin Hood I've read about and watched in movies in this fast paced, action filled novel.  A good, quick read.

The King's Spy

It is 1643 and civil war haunts England.  Fortunately the town of Romsey hasn't seen a lot of it.  However, with increasing tension both Royalist and Parliamentary soldiers have recently visited the small town causing grief and destruction.  In the midst of this a visitor from the king stops by Thomas Hill's humble bookshop.

The king wants Thomas to use his mathematical skills to be his cryptographer, and after careful thought, Thomas agrees to travel to Oxford.  It is only when he is well on the way to Oxford that he is told that the man he is replacing has been murdered.  Upon arrival in Oxford, Thomas discovers that his mentor is virtually blind, however his mind is as sharp as ever.

Thomas is quickly put to work decoding some messages.  It doesn't take him long, and he soon starts to establish characteristics to each code writer.  Thomas also meets an intriguing young widow plus an angry young man who is upset because he had to give up his room to Thomas.  What roles will these two play in Thomas' time in Oxford?

Thomas finds the work tedious and boring until one day an intercepted parliamentary message is handed to him to decrypt.  It becomes evident quickly that this will not be an easy message to break.  Unfortunately after struggling to decrypt the message for some time, Thomas' mentor is murdered, and his room ransacked.  Thomas is arrested and charged with the murder of his friend.  It isn't long before he succumbs to gaol fever.

Saved from the gaol, Thomas does manage to decrypt the message, which threatens the queen.  Who can he trust with it?  Who can he trust with anything?  Is the king trustworthy?

Author Andrew Swanston has written a fast paced novel, full of murder, mystery and intrigue.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading the sequels.

Conquest

Hereward has been banished as an outlaw by King Edward the Confessor.  Hereward finds solitude in the western forest of England.  There he also meets an old man, who tasks him with finding his daughter and asking of her The Talisman.  Hereward is then to go in search of his own destiny.

In his quest he meets Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, King of the Welsh and serves him at the Battle of Hereford against the forces of King Edward.  He also makes friends with Martin and Einar.  It is in Hereford that he finds Torfida, daughter of the old seer.  He discovers that she also has the sight.  After the battle, the four new friends head westward.  Hereward wants to get to Dublin before winter arrives.  The following year the four friends travel to Scotland to help Macbeth.  Unfortunately for Macbeth that was to come to naught.

The quartet's travels take them on to Northern Europe where both Einar and Martin find wives and Torfida and Hereward marry.  They then travel south to Constantinople, and across to Rome where they meet the pope.  He blesses the couple, but not the talisman that Hereward wears.

Serving in southern Italy, Hereward learns new tactics.  The group gains a new friend in Alphonso of Granada.  But, Hereward is drawn to the north by rumours of threats to England.  In Rouen, they enter the service of William, Duke of Normandy.  However, they are not totally happy there, for they know he has laid claim to the throne of England once Edward dies.

Hereward is struck by the brutality of the Norman Duke, so when the opportunity to join Harold Godwinson as he returns to England, the group jumps at it.  Edward is on the verge of death and England teeters on the brink of civil war shortly after their return.  Edward died early in 1066, and the Witan declared Harold king.  William was enraged and planned an invasion, while Tostig, Harold's estranged brother plotted with Hardarda to invade the north with his Vikings.  Harold had to prepare for invasions to the north and south.

Late in September, Hardarda invades and takes York.  Harold gathers a small force and marches north to do battle.  Just outside York at Stamford Bridge, Harold is outnumbered four to one, but achieves a decisive victory.  Within a short time he is informed of William's invasion on the south coast.  He heads to London to meet with his earls, who suggest caution.  However, Harold wants to rid England of the Norman scourge as soon as possible.

Harold has the height of land at Senlac Ridge, but unfortunately the battle does not go his way.  William ensures that he is brutally killed.  Hereward is grievously injured attempting to protect his king, and fortunately he is taken from the battlefield by his three friends.  Once recovered, Hereward and the group of friends move to Spain, but minus Torfida who has taken ill.

The group leads a quiet life in Spain, but before long, Hereward is called back to England to lead an uprising.  Will the tactics he learned in Spain help him put Prince Edgar on the throne of England? Or is it just total futility?

Author Stewart Binns has written an intriguing novel based on little known historical fact.  It was a book that had me engaged from start to finish; I could not put it down.

The Devil's Workshop

It is late at night when DI Walter Day is called to his office because five murderers have made a brazen escape from Bridewell Prison.  Commissioner Sir Edward Bradford wants the escapees captured as quickly as possible.  He assigns many of his force to the manhunt, however he assigns Day and DS Hammersmith to investigate the goings on at the prison.  Day's former mentor and now retired DI Adrian March offers to help.  Bradford is sure that the escape was carefully planned and includes someone inside the prison.  He also informs the trio that one of the escapees is a man Day and Hammersmith had put away last year.

At the prison, the warden is adamant that there were only four escapees, however a clerk is sure there is a fifth.  Unfortunately he has no records to identify the man.  The trio follow some clues to a tea shop where they find a man bound and gagged.  One of the escapees has been found, but why was he bound and gagged?

Further investigation leads Day and March to catacombs beneath a church.  There March springs a surprise on Day.  Unfortunately for the pair of them, they become entrapped.  Meantime Sergeant Hammersmith comes to the realisation that Day's wife, Claire, is also in danger.  Will he be able to protect her and will Day succeed in escaping his predicament?

Author Alex Grecian has plenty of tension building up in this murder mystery and a few surprises before the conclusion.  An intense, page turning read.

The Strangled Queen

Philip IV is dead!  Long live Louis X!  In their prison Marguerite, wife of Louis and Blanche, his sister-in-law believe that they will now be released.  Marguerite believes that she is now Queen of France.  She is surprised when Robert of Artois arrives and offers her the chance of freedom if she accepts an annulment.  Unfortunately Artois is unable to get her to agree.

Now that Louis is king, he needs a new queen.  The council has proposed Clemence of Hungary.   However, before he can marry her, he must be rid of Marguerite.  In order for that to occur, a new pope was required, so one of his councillors was sent to hurry the conclave along.

Set aside by the new king's council, Monseigneur de Marigny begins to plot against the new king and council.  He sends a letter to Edward II of England.  He also schemes to delay the conclave from choosing a new pope.  Charles of Valois, uncle to the king, was now in charge of an empty state treasury.  How will he find the money necessary to operate the state?

The royal court is rife with schemes and counter schemes as this novel by Maurice Druon moves on to its ultimate conclusion.  Well written and well researched; a very good read for the fan of historical novels.

Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh

Naomi has been taken by the pharaoh's men to become another wife for Pharaoh Akhenaten.  However, Queen Nefertiti could be a threat to Naomi, so Horemheb, an adviser to the pharaoh offers a deal to her.  Be a spy amongst the women for him and he will protect her.

After many rituals, Naomi is declared ready to be the pharaoh's fifth wife.  She is renamed Kiya.  Kiya wonders how she will be able to keep her Jewish God in her heart with so many false gods around her.  Kiya's wedding night doesn't go off as planned and she worries about having displeased the Pharaoh.

Kiya also has to tread carefully around Nefertiti.  Fortunately she seems to have made a good impression on Akhenaten, and the other wives and concubines.  Her friendship with Horemheb grows, too.  Meantime she discovers that one of her guards us also Hebrew.  She is attracted to him, but that could prove to be dangerous.

It isn't long after consummating her marriage that Kiya falls pregnant.  This news is sure to aggravate Nefertiti's jealousy.  Nefertiti tries to rid herself of both Kiya and Horemheb by accusing them of having an affair.  Fortunately Akhenaton doesn't believe her.  Later, Kiya is delivered of a healthy son, who Akhenaton names Tutankhamen.

Nefertiti is a constant threat, while Kiya is torn about her feelings for Akhenaton and those around her, especially since her Hebrew faith means so much to her.  How can she protect them, yet not hurt them nor herself in the process?

Author Katie Hamstead has written an interesting novel about the times of the pharaohs of Egypt.  One will have to get the sequels to see where it goes.  A quick read.