The Butcher Bird: A Somershill Manor Mystery

The Butcher Bird: A Somershill Manor Mystery PDF Author: S. D. Sykes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1681771195
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
In the sequel to the critically acclaimed Plague Land, we return to Somershill Manor, where an ominous legend takes hold of hearts and minds as children begin to disappear. Oswald de Lacy is growing up fast in his new position as Lord of Somershill Manor. However, there is still the same amount of work to be done in the farms and fields, and the few people left to do it think they should be paid more—something the King himself has forbidden. Just as anger begins to spread, the story of the Butcher Bird takes flight. People claim to have witnessed a huge creature in the skies. A new-born baby is found impaled on a thorn bush. And then more children disappear. Convinced the bird is just a superstitious rumor, Oswald must discover what is really happening. He can expect no help from his snobbish mother and his scheming sister Clemence, who is determined to protect her own child, but happy to neglect her step-daughters. From the plague-ruined villages of Kent to the thief-infested streets of London and the luxurious bedchamber of a bewitching lady, Oswald's journey is full of danger, dark intrigue, and shocking revelations.

The Butcher Bird: A Somershill Manor Mystery

The Butcher Bird: A Somershill Manor Mystery PDF Author: S. D. Sykes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1681771195
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Get Book

Book Description
In the sequel to the critically acclaimed Plague Land, we return to Somershill Manor, where an ominous legend takes hold of hearts and minds as children begin to disappear. Oswald de Lacy is growing up fast in his new position as Lord of Somershill Manor. However, there is still the same amount of work to be done in the farms and fields, and the few people left to do it think they should be paid more—something the King himself has forbidden. Just as anger begins to spread, the story of the Butcher Bird takes flight. People claim to have witnessed a huge creature in the skies. A new-born baby is found impaled on a thorn bush. And then more children disappear. Convinced the bird is just a superstitious rumor, Oswald must discover what is really happening. He can expect no help from his snobbish mother and his scheming sister Clemence, who is determined to protect her own child, but happy to neglect her step-daughters. From the plague-ruined villages of Kent to the thief-infested streets of London and the luxurious bedchamber of a bewitching lady, Oswald's journey is full of danger, dark intrigue, and shocking revelations.

The Butcher Bird

The Butcher Bird PDF Author: S. D. Sykes
Publisher: Pegasus Books
ISBN: 9781605989815
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Oswald de Lacy, the new Lord of Somershill Manor, must reassure the villagers that the huge creature reported in the sky is just a superstitious rumor, despite the number of children who suddenly disappear.

The Good Death

The Good Death PDF Author: S. D. Sykes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1643137808
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
In the new Somershill Manor mystery, Lord Oswald de Lacy makes a devastating confession to his dying mother. But will he gain the forgiveness he seeks, or destroy his family? England, November 1370. Oswald de Lacy, Lord of Somershill Manor, makes a devastating confession to his dying mother. But will he gain the forgiveness he seeks—or destroy his family? In 1349, Oswald, the third son of the de Lacy family, was an eighteen-year-old novice monk at Kintham Abbey. Sent to collect herbs from the forest, Oswald comes across a terrified village girl. Frenzied with fear, she runs headlong into a swollen river. Oswald pulls her broken and bruised body from the water and returns her to the local village, only to discover that several other women have disappeared. A heinous killer is at work, but because all of the missing women come from impoverished families without influence, nobody seems to care. Oswald vows to find this killer himself—but as plague approaches, his beloved tutor Brother Peter insists they must stay inside the monastery. He turns instead to the women of the village for help, and particularly the enigmatic and beautiful Maud Woodstock—a woman who provokes strong emotions in Oswald. As he closes in on the killer, Oswald makes a discovery that is so utterly shocking that it threatens to destroy him and his family. Even as plague rages across England and death is at every door, Oswald must kill or be killed. And the discovery will be a secret that haunts him for the rest of his life.

The Butcher Bird

The Butcher Bird PDF Author: S Sykes
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 144478580X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Book 2 in the gripping Oswald de Lacy series, , which can be read as a standalone, from 'the medieval CJ Sansom' (Jeffery Deaver) The Black Death killed his father and brothers , making Oswald de Lacy Lord of Somershill Manor. It also killed many of his villagers, leaving fewer people to do more work. So Oswald tries to use logic and patience to manage a struggling estate, a socially ambitious mother, an overbearing sister and a mutinous workforce. Then a baby is found impaled on a thorn bush and people say they have seen a huge creature in the skies. The Butcher Bird. And now there is no room for common sense, no time for patience. If Oswald is to survive, he must find the truth behind a series of ever more brutal events. From the plague-ruined villages of Kent to the luxurious bedchambers of London, it is a journey full of danger, darkness and shocking revelations. 'The whodunnit aspect is neatly done, the family secrets and waspish relationships are intriguing, and humour and originality are abundant' Daily Mail

City of Masks

City of Masks PDF Author: S D Sykes
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1444785834
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
A brilliantly dark and compelling novel set in Venice from 'the medieval CJ Sansom' (Jeffery Deaver) 1358. Oswald de Lacy, Lord Somershill, is in Venice, awaiting a pilgrim galley to the Holy Land. While the city is under siege from the Hungarians, Oswald lodges with an English merchant, and soon comes under the dangerous spell of the decadent and dazzling island state that sits on the hinge of Europe, where East meets West. Oswald is trying to flee the chilling shadow of something in his past, but when he finds a dead man on the night of the carnival, he is dragged into a murder investigation that takes him deep into the intrigues of this mysterious, paranoid city. Coming up against the feared Signori di Notte, the secret police, Oswald learns that he is not the only one with something to hide. Everybody is watching somebody else, and nobody in Venice is what he or she seems. The masks are not just for the carnival.

The Bone Fire

The Bone Fire PDF Author: S. D. Sykes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1643132970
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
In the new Somershill Manor Mystery, Oswald de Lacy brings his family to a secluded island castle to escape the Black Death, but soon a murder within the household proves that even the strongest fortresses aren't free from terror in fourteenth-century England. When the Black Death reappears in England in 1361, Oswald de Lacy knows that the safest place for his wife and young son is the island-fortress of Eden, where his eccentrically pious friend Godfrey has invited the family to stay to wait out the plague during the long, dark winter. But Oswald has barely had time to settle in when a brutal murder shocks the household and it soon becomes clear that the castle is not the stronghold of security that he was so desperately looking for. Oswald knows the castle isn’t safe, but escaping to the plague-infested countryside outside its walls is not an option. His only hope is to solve the mystery of the murder before the killer strikes again. With a cast of characters like something out of Chaucer—a lord and lady, a knight, a religious radical, a court jester, a drunk, and a couple of traveling craftsmen are just some of the suspects Oswald must reckon with—and the all-consuming threat of the plague hovering just outside the castle walls, the newest novel in the Somershill Manor Mysteries is the most brilliant and frightening yet.

The Tudor Bride

The Tudor Bride PDF Author: Joanna Hickson
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780007446995
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
King Henry V's new French Queen, Catherine, dazzles the crowds in England, blithely unaware of court undercurrents building against her. Catherine believes herself invincible as she gives birth to an heir. Tragedy strikes when King Henry is struck down by fever back in France and Catherine rushes to his deathbed. Back in England, the regency council removes the new young king from Catherine's care, and she retires to her dower estates, taking the King's Harper, Owen Tudor, with her as Steward. At the secluded manor of Hadham, a smouldering ember bursts into flame as Catherine and Owen Tudor become lovers.

City of Masks

City of Masks PDF Author: S. D. Sykes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1681774933
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Young Lord Somershill flees England for the wonders of Venice, where he becomes involved in a bizarre murder investigation that plunges him into the depths of this secretive medieval city. It’s 1358, and young Oswald de Lacy, Lord Somershill, is delayed in Venice as he awaits a pilgrim ship to the Holy Land. While the city is besieged by the King of Hungary, Oswald stays at the house of an English merchant, and soon comes under the spell of this decadent and dazzling island state that sits on the edge of Europe—where East meets West. But Oswald has secrets. He is running away from something in England—a shadow that still haunts him, no matter how much he consoles himself with the delights of Venice. When he finds a dead man at the carnival, he is dragged into a murder investigation that draws him deep into the intrigues of this paranoid, mysterious city. From the dungeons of the Doge’s Palace to the convent-brothel of Santa Lucia, Oswald must search for a murderer in this bewildering maze of alleys and canals. When he comes up against the feared Signori di Notte, the secret police, Oswald learns that he is not the only one with something to hide. Everyone is watching (or trailing) someone else; and nobody in Venice is who they appear to be. Masks, it seems, are not only for the carnival.

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu PDF Author: Joshua Hammer
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476777403
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Describes how a group of Timbuktu librarians enacted a daring plan to smuggle the city's great collection of rare Islamic manuscripts away from the threat of destruction at the hands of Al Qaeda militants to the safety of southern Mali.

Plague Land

Plague Land PDF Author: S. D. Sykes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1605987387
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
In this chilling historical mystery, young girls go missing from a medieval English village and Lord Oswald de Lacy must find the killer before tragedy strikes again. Oswald de Lacy was never meant to be the Lord of Somerhill Manor. Despatched to a monastery at the age of seven, sent back at seventeen when his father and two older brothers are killed by the Plague, Oswald has no experience of running an estate. He finds the years of pestilence and neglect have changed the old place dramatically, not to mention the attitude of the surviving peasants. Yet some things never change. Oswald's mother remains the powerful matriarch of the family, and his sister Clemence simmers in the background, dangerous and unmarried. Before he can do anything, Oswald is confronted by the shocking death of a young woman, Alison Starvecrow. The ambitious village priest claims that Alison was killed by a band of demonic dog-headed men. Oswald is certain this is nonsense, but proving it—by finding the real murderer—is quite a different matter. Every step he takes seems to lead Oswald deeper into a dark maze of political intrigue, family secrets and violent strife. And then the body of another girl is found. Sarah Sykes brilliantly evokes the landscape and people of medieval Kent in this thrillingly suspenseful debut.