Новинки Майкла Джекса

The Floating Admiral was the first of the Detection Club’s collaborative novels, in which twelve of its members wrote a single novel. Eighty-five years later, fourteen members of the club have once again collaborated to produce The Sinking Admiral.

‘The Admiral’ is a pub in the Suffolk seaside village of Crabwell, The Admiral Byng. ‘The Admiral’ is also the nickname of its landlord, Geoffrey Horatio Fitzsimmons, as well as the name of the landlord’s dinghy. None of them are as buoyant as they should be, for the pub is threatened with closure due to falling takings.

Tempers are already frayed due to the arrival of a television documentary team when Fitzsimmons is found dead in his tethered boat. The villagers assume a simple case of suicide and fear that their debt-ridden pub will now sink without trace. The journalists seem determined to finish the job by raking up old skeletons, but they weren’t banking on the fact that this story has been written by 14 extremely competitive crime writers – arch bamboozlers who will stop at nothing to save a good pub.

The Sinking Admiral, edited by the Detection Club’s outgoing President – author and broadcaster Simon Brett, OBE – continues a tradition established by the Detection Club’s founders in 1931 when Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Freeman Wills Crofts and eleven other esteemed authors wrote The Floating Admiral, a ‘collaborative novel’ to challenge themselves, fox their readers and help to pay for the Club’s running costs. Now, 85 years later, 14 of today’s leading crime writers have repeated this unique game of literary consequences, producing an original, ebullient and archetypal whodunit that will keep readers guessing right up to what crime lovers insist on calling the dénouement…

It is 1322, and Lord Hugh de Courtenay's plan to host a tournament is a fantastic opportunity for the money-lenders of Oakhampton. When the defeated knights find themselves unable to pay the traditional ransoms to their captors, they will have only one course open to them—accruing interest by the hour. But when the most prominent money-lender, Benjamin Dudenay, is found brutally murdered a month before the festivities, Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock find themselves on the trail of a most sinister killer. The Tournament of Blood is the eleventh tale in this superbly plotted medieval mystery series.

1321 Simon and Baldwin are rewarded for their efforts by a summons to Exeter over the Christmas period to receive gloves from the Boy-Bishop.
However, they learn that Ralph, the glove maker, has been murdered and robbed. Soon, a Secondary named Peter is poisoned at the cathedral. Suspicion falls on him, supposing that he slew Ralph and then committed suicide, but Simon and Baldwin are unconvinced.
Their research shows that the intense rivalries at the top of the Freedom of the city can lead to an explosion of violence.

1326. In an England riven with conflict, knight and peasant alike find their lives turned upside down by the warring factions of Edward II, with his hated favourite, Hugh le Despenser, and Edward's estranged queen Isabella and her lover, Sir Roger Mortimer. Yet even in such times the brutal slaughter of an entire family, right down to a babe in arms, still has the power to shock. Three further murders follow, and bailiff Simon Puttock is drawn into a web of intrigue, vengeance, power and greed as Roger Mortimer charges him to investigate the killings.

Michael Jecks brilliantly evokes the turmoil of fourteenth-century England, as his well-loved characters Simon Puttock and Sir Baldwin de Furnshill strive to maintain the principles of loyalty and truth.

As the year 1326 draws to a close, London is in flames. King Edward II is a prisoner, and the forces of his vengeful queen, Isabella, and her lover Sir Roger Mortimer, are in the ascendant. The Bardi family, bankers who have funded the King, must look to their future with the Queen, steering a careful course between rival factions – if, that is, they can keep themselves alive. Others, too, find their loyalties torn. Guarding the deposed King on behalf of Mortimer, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and bailiff Simon Puttock find themselves entangled in a tightening net of conspiracy, greed, betrayal and murder.

The Knights Templar
They were warrior monks, dedicated to the protection of pilgrims in the Holy Land—until an avaricious king destroyed the order. One knight, however, escaped the stake, vowing justice for his murdered brothers.
A fatal tide of intolerance
With civil war looming, tensions are high in the town of Crediton—and the foul murder of a local gold merchant and assault on his daughter merely feed the flames. Keeper of the King's Peace and former Knight Templar, Sir Baldwin Furnshill, and his partner, Simon Puttock, bailiff of Lydford, must find the culprit and resist the temptation to quickly condemn the most obvious suspect. But their cool heads may not prevail, for rumors are spreading that suggest the lepers of St. Lawrence's hospital—the shunned outcasts of society—are somehow responsible for Crediton's current ills. And any delay on the part of Furnshill and Puttock in apprehending a killer may well lead to a full-scale slaughter of the despised unfortunates.

The knights templar
They were warrior monks, dedicated to the protection of pilgrims in the Holy Land -- until an avaricious king savagely destroyed the order. One knight, however, escaped the stake, vowing justice for his murdered brothers.
A gathering of evil
With scores of merchants streaming into Devon to participate in the Tavistock fair of 1319, a goodly amount of unlawful activity is expected. No one, however, anticipates a murder. The guests of Abbot Robert Champeaux, former Knight Templar Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Simon Puttock, bailiff of Lydford, have been asked by their host to investigate the grisly discovery of a headless corpse by a local butcher. Hunting a killer in the din and bustle of the fair could prove a daunting task, especially with the victim's identity a mystery. But Sir Baldwin and Simon are determined to unravel the complex weave of intrigue, rage, and violence that has brought death to Tavistock -- even if it means courting their own destruction.

Молодой капеллан лондонского аббатства Бермондси нарушил обет безбрачия, вступив в преступную связь с благородной девицей. Когда его любовница забеременела, над монастырем нависла угроза королевского гнева.
Однако и капеллан, и девушка бесследно исчезли... Так начинается история таинственного "проклятия смерти" нависшего над аббатством Бермондси.
История пяти загадочных убийств, произошедших под его кровлей. Сотни лет проклятие настигает тех, кто обитает в стенах Бермондси. Века идут - но преступлениям нет числа. И смерть становится равно уделом виновных и невинных!

Некогда знаменитый саксонский оружейник начертал на стальном клинке слова странного заклятия. Так начался путь Проклятого меча - оружия необыкновенной красоты, приносящего позор и погибель всякому, кто рискнет завладеть им. Шли века, но меч снова и снова становился орудием ужасных, предательских убийств. Он имел отношение к мученической кончине епископа Томаса Беккета - и к тщательно спланированному покушению на короля Ричарда Львиное Сердце. Он появлялся в роскошной и жестокой Венеции - и на поле кровавой битвы при Пуатье. Времена меняются, но Проклятый меч снова и снова разит наповал...

Isabella, Queen of England, has been dispatched to France in an attempt to bring about peace between the two countries, and Baldwin must accompany her. But the day after their arrival, a servant is found murdered, with Baldwin's dagger lying next to the body. As Baldwin struggles to prove his innocence, the killer strikes again. With so many English enemies gathering in Paris, will Baldwin be able to expose the culprit in time to protect the English King?

1325: England is a hotbed of paranoia under the reign of the increasingly unpredictable Edward II and his lover, Sir Hugh le Despenser. When the Queen's lady-in-waiting is slaughtered and a man's body, hideously mutilated, is discovered behind the throne, the King demands to be avenged. Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, an experienced investigator of murders, is appointed to track down the killer, aided by his friend, Simon Puttock. In an age of corruption, when the king's friends can use torture, blackmail and murder to promote their ends, a rural knight and bailiff must fight to stay alive.

It is 1324, and a disastrous autumn looms large. In Dartmouth, a man is found lying dead in the road, but the inhabitants of this little haven dismiss his death as a drunken accident. Their attentions are turned to more worrying matters—piracy. A ship, the St. John, has been discovered, half-ravaged and the crew missing, in an attack that bears all the hallmarks of the supposedly disbanded Lyme Pirates. Could this be the beginning of a vicious onslaught, or is something even more sinister happening? Sir Baldwin Furnshill has been warned of spies reaching the great traitor Roger Mortimer. If this is true and messages are reaching Mortimer, civil war in England is inevitable. And so the Kingdom’s most powerful and ruthless men demand that Baldwin and Bailiff Simon Puttock uncover the truth, and quickly. This is to be the most important investigation of their lives—fail and they will be executed, succeed and there will be others ready to silence them forever

In this richly atmospheric series of medieval murder mysteries, Michael Jecks gives us tales steeped in intrigue and historical detail. Skillfully evoking the colorful, but often brutal tableaux of the Middle Ages, Jecks has drawn comparison with

Год 1100-й. Иерусалим пал под натиском воинов Христовых. Во время пожара и хаоса, охвативших город, крестоносец Джеффри Мэппстоун спас бесценную реликвию - частицу Истинного Креста с оставшимися на ней каплями крови Христа. Однако над реликвией, согласно легенде, довлеет проклятие - любой, кто коснется ее, погибнет ужасной смертью.

Так начинается история пяти загадочных убийств - и каждое связано с таинственной реликвией. Сотни лет проклятие настигает тех, кому удается завладеть бесценной святыней. Святыней, которая несет смерть.

Читайте книгу мастеров исторического детектива - группы писателей "Средневековые убийцы"!

"Потрясающие исторические детективы, каждый из которых - жемчужина жанра!"
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"Великолепное знание истории. Блестяще выстроенные сюжеты. Яркие, обаятельные персонажи!"

It is 1321, and Lady Elizabeth of Topsham, prioress of St. Mary's, is fighting to retain her position in the face of devastating opposition. She has been accused by Sister Margherita, St. Mary's treasurer, of giving much-needed funds to the new vicar, a man she often sees alone at night. Many of the nuns are convinced that Margherita would make a better prioress—especially now that it is certain that Moll, a young nun, was murdered in her sick bed. Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, together with his old friend Simon Puttock, are summoned to investigate. There is no doubt that the threefold vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty are being broken with alarming frequency. Then, when a second nun is murdered, they find themselves facing their most difficult case yet.

The year is 1319 and Tavistock's fair has drawn merchants to Devon from all over England and beyond. Keeping the streets clean and the locals in order is no easy task, for the influx of visitors and their money puts temptation in the way of cut-purses and other villains. But no one expects a murder, and butcher Will Ruby is stunned to discover a corpse – a headless corpse at that.

Former Knight Templar Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, and Simon Puttock, bailiff of Lydford, have just arrived in Tavistock as guests of Abbot Robert Champeaux when the body is found. The crime falls within the Abbot's jurisdiction, and when he asks Simon and Baldwin to investigate, they can hardly refuse. But with an unidentifiable victim, they're badly hampered in their inquiries.

Nonetheless there's no shortage of suspicious behaviour to spur them on. Elias, the cook near whose shop the gruesome remains were found, clearly has something to hide. A surprisingly aggressive young monk has been behaving in an ungodly fashion. And the town is awash with strangers, any one of whom could be concealing a sinister past.

Can Simon and Baldwin unravel the complex web of intrigue that has brought death to Tavistock, as the undercurrents of anger and violence that lie beneath the bustling activity of the fair grow ever fiercer?

… Peter Clifford, priest of the bustling town of Crediton in Devonshire, is an anxious man. Already nervous about the impending visit of the Bishop of Exeter, he is disturbed to see that a company of violent mercenaries has taken up residence at the inn. They threaten to make the visit a disaster. Mercenaries are an unpleasant reality in the fourteenth century, but this group seems particularly bent on havoc. Not only do they show no respect to the priest, but other travellers are terrified to come near them, and there's a rumour that a local girl has been seduced by their leader…

Simon Puttock, bailiff of Lydford, and Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, are invited to Peter's house to help welcome the bishop, though both have their own reasons to want to avoid this. They welcome the diversion offered by a sudden commotion outside but when they find there's been a robbery among the mercenaries, they are less grateful for the interruption. Then a young girl is discovered murdered, hidden in a chest – and this is only the first of the Crediton killings.

As murder follows brutal murder, Simon and Baldwin must discover the killer's identity before he can murder again – and before their own lives, dangerously caught up in the intrigues, are put at risk…

In fourteenth-century Devon, villeins were as much the property of their masters as manor houses and land; runaways were routinely apprehended and brutally punished. But when Peter Bruther flees from the home of Sir William Beauscyr, he has the cunning to set up as a tin miner on the moors, putting himself automatically in the protection of the king, who rakes in a fortune in taxes from the tinners. When the bailiff of Lydford, Simon Puttock, informs Sir William that he has no legal claim on his wayward servant, the knight is furious, fearing an uprising amongst his other men. Before any dissent can spread, Bruther's body is found hanging…

As midwife and healer, Agatha Kyteler is regarded as a witch by her superstitious neighbours in the village of Wefford in Devonshire, yet she has no shortage of callers, from the humblest villein to the most elegant and wealthy in the area. But when Agatha's body is found frozen and mutilated in a hedge one wintry morning, there seem to be no clues as to who could be responsible. Not until a local youth runs away and a hue and cry is raised.

Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, is not convinced of the youth's guilt, and soon he manages to persuade his close friend Simon Puttock, bailiff of Lydford Castle, to help him continue with the investigation. As they endeavour to find the true culprit, the darker side of the village, with its undercurrents of suspicion, jealousy and disloyalty, emerges. And while Sir Baldwin becomes increasingly distracted by the beauty of a neighbouring merchant's wife, Simon finds himself wondering what happened to the foreigner who visited the normally sleepy area only to disappear shortly after Agatha's death, riding down towards the moors ...

A Knight Templar weeps as he watches his friends, broken by torture, go to their deaths at the stake. Pope Clement has destroyed the Order, persuaded of corruption within it. All that remains is the desire for vengeance on those who defiled the Order's name.

Two years of heavy rains and poor harvests have driven many to a life of thieving; bands of outlaws known as "trail bastons" rove the countryside, spreading terror in their wake.

The newly appointed Bailiff of Lydford Castle, Simon Puttock, has had little experience of violence. When the charred body of Harold Brewer is found in his burned-out cottage, Simon assumes it's accidental death. It's the new master of the local manor, Sir Baldwin Furnshill, recently returned from Europe, who deduces that Brewer was dead before the fire began.

With the assistance of the astute yet strangely reticent knight, Simon begins to piece together the events of Brewer's last days. Then word comes of another murder, more horrible by far – for in this case, the victim was undoubtedly burned alive. Are the two incidents connected, and will the killers strike again?