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Published Sep 2019
320 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
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 they were so desperately looking for.
Oswald knows the castle isn't safe, but neither is the plague-infested countryside outside its walls. 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.
"Sykes effectively uses her diligent research in the service of a memorable plot. This outing reinforces her place in the historical mystery genre's top ranks." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Sykes' fourth is anchored in a grimly evocative first-person narrative reminiscent of Poe, and there's a whodunit to boot." - Kirkus Reviews
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
S.D. Sykes has always been a storyteller – even as a child – writing her first book at the age of six and insisting that it was typed up and bound! During her career in marketing and copywriting, she studied for an MA in Writing from Sheffield Hallam, and then went on to have Arts Council funding for screenplay development. She finished her first book, Plague Land, after attending the course in novel-writing at literary agents Curtis Brown.
She has lived in Somerset, London, Southampton, Manchester and now the Weald of Kent. Her influences are gothic literature, film, nature, history and her large and mildly eccentric family.
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