The Mysterium. Paul Doherty. Headline Publishing Group (2010)

A very entertaining and engaging medieval murder mystery that makes the most of the historical context, engaging cast and superb plot mechanics. In February 1304 in London the Chief Justice, Walter Evesham has been removed from office and has been allowed to retire to a cell in the Abbey of Syon on Thames. When Evesham's chief clerk is found murdered with the mark of an assassin that Evesham had captured years earlier and Evesham himself is found murdered and marked, Sir Hugh Corbett is ordered by Edward I to investigate. The investigation twists and coils as Sir Hugh Corbett investigates the original case and the present murders. The reveals are cunningly staged and the satisfying sour conclusion is very well staged.
Paul Doherty uses the historical context with impressive skill, evoking the crowded space of London with its extraordinary collections of nobles, merchants, workers and criminals all jostling each other in narrow streets and all the hidden connections that link and divide them. The King and the wealthy merchants of London, The Great Ones, were in constant tension as they struggled to establish the boundaries to each others power and influence. The Great Ones routinely uses gangs of criminals to carry out their wishes and the Mysterium exploited this situation to the full before he was captured by Evesham, only to escape from a tightly guarded church. This locked room mystery is superbly set up and managed by Paul Doherty. The mystery and its resolution are central to the story and are firmly tied to the rest of the plot mechanics.
The unfolding of the plot is masterful, from the ferocious opening action of a murder and a dreadful siege of a church, the action returns to central questions from different angles as the reveals start to point to am increasingly tangled and dark story that slowly pulls the cast into grip. The black heart at the centre of the story is clever and malicious, Sir Hugh Corbett has to work very hard to grasp the full depths of the trouble that has been created. Paul Dohery has done a great favour to the reader, he has given his lead character a genuinely difficult problem to solve. The work that Sir Hugh Corbett has to do to is what brings the reader into the story and the conclusion is entirely appropriate for the story that went ahead of it.
The story captures the way the present is a hostage to the past and reappear with shattering results. The investigation is carefully managed, Sir Hugh Corbett is clever resourceful and persistent. He follows the possibilities with energy and is fully aware of the web on interests that he is attempting to unravel. The cast are very well developed and engaging, they all push themselves forward to engage the reader and they are given true, individual voices, including the walk on parts.
Paul Doherty is so confident in his context and the cast that the context is allowed to seep into the story, it is simply present and influential, the social and religious structures taken so firmly for granted are revealed in the action of the story without being explain to the reader. Great story, superb crime fiction.

The Cup of Ghosts. Paul Doherty. Headline (2006)

Wonderfully confident and engaging historical murder mystery. Mathilde of Westminister comes to England as the confidential servant and friend of Princess Isabella, daughter of Phillip of France and wife of Edward II. Mathilde entered Isabella's household as a safe place to hide, her uncle and mentor was a leading member of the Knights Templar who were destroyed by Phillip who wanted their treasures.Isabella needed someone she could trust and Mathilde, with her life threatening secret was the right person. With an uneasy and unstable peace between England and France, the marriage of Isabella and Edward was a sign of peace and reconciliation. When Mathilde discovers a merchant and his household murdered it is the start of a series of murders that will lead to the cup of ghosts. The reveals are very well staged, the context vivid and the cast are sharp and full of life.
The story is a first person narrative which can be hard to manage in a historical context, enough information has to be provided so the cast look and act naturally in their context with out drowning the reader in information or reading like a guided tour of the period. Paul Docherty has the confident knowledge and talent to make it look easy. Mathilde is moving through a world in severe transition, the world she is talking about is already history for those in her present, and she moves as a stranger into the French court and then to England. She has the perfect reason to explain what is new to her and provide both the required details and explanations as a essential part of her narrative.
Mathilde is a great guide through the murky and murderous world of high politics of the period, she has trained to be observant and to draw conclusions from her observations as pas physician, she is close enough to the heart of power to see what is going on and distant enough to allow the plot mechanics operate successfully. The rest of the cast emerge very much as Mathilde sees them, Isabelle as a seriously underestimated woman who has a burning wish for revenge on those who abused her, Edward as a mercurial man who is cursed to never forget or forgive an insult. Gaveston, Edward's favorite and tool used by Edward to cut at the great English aristocracy who had fatally wounded his pride. All stride through the story will steely determination to gain their aims, unaware that that there were others who had plans and the willingness to use any means to achieve them.
The mix of history, motive and plot mechanics is superbly done, costumes change, lust for power and greed for dominance never ages.
Other Voices, Other Views:
http://classicmystery.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/the-cup-of-ghosts-by-paul-doherty/
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/793055.The_Cup_of_Ghosts

The Anubis Slayings. Paul Doherty. Headline Book Publishing (2000)

This is an excellent crime story with a vividly realised setting and a superbly crafted plot. In Egypt the female Pharaoh, Hatusu, had defeated King Tushratta of Mitanni and was organising a peace treaty to seal her victory. In the temple of Anubis, the jackal headed god,murder and the theft of a very valuable and sacred jewel place the negotiations under strain. Hatsu calls on the judge Amerotke to solve the crimes. The story unfolds with great pace and, the threads of the plot are very cleverly woven together, the reveals are brilliantly staged and the final unravelling is a sharp pleasure.
Ancient Egypt is brought to credible life with deceptive ease and telling detail.There is no slabs of information that interrupt the flow of the story, the context is revealed in a natural and light handed way. The emphasis is on the cast and the way that they interact with each other. The leading players are developed very strongly, Hatusu emerges as a powerful and supremely confident leader. Her will to achieve and retain power does not define her, she is a complex and engaging woman. Amerotke is thoughtful and very capable, nicely he is not an Egyptian Sherlock Holmes, he is astute and observant. The rest of the cast are all given room to breathe and the story gains strongly from the layers that each cast member brings with them.
Underneath the wonderful clothing of Ancient Egypt a cunningly constructed plot drives the action. It is credibly tied to the cast and the context, the plot mechanics are lightly laid down and the cast drive the action themselves. The shifting reveals give the cast new chances to reveal themselves and they do so. Utterly engaging, smart and very satisfying, a pleasure.

The Song of the Gladiator. Paul Doherty. Headline (2004)

A really enjoyable mystery story set in Imperial Rome. The Christian Church having survived a savage persecution by Diocletian has emerged as a public force under Emperor Constantine and more significantly his mother, Helena. The church is riven by theological disputes and Constantine invites leader to a debate at the Villa Pulchra. At the same time the gladiator Murranus discovers his opponent has been poisoned, enormous bets have been placed and it appears someone wants to ensure a profitable result. Claudia, Murranus' lover and Helena's spy is summoned to the Villa Pulchra where she finds that there is no shortage of plotting. When as scared relic disappears and one of the churchmen is violently murdered the situation becomes critical. The plot moves very swiftly, encompassing imperial politics, murder and deadly gladiatorial games with sure confidence. The reveals are very well stages and the conclusion highly satisfactory.
Paul Dohery creates a large and very lively cast within a vividly realised setting. The story moves easily from the Imperial debates at the Villa Pulchra with the treacherous undertows that swirl around it to the dangers of being a gladiator. The greatest danger was not necessarily within the arena, there at least the opponent was clearly identified and rules did apply. Outside the arena with so much money at stake the dangers were much greater and much better concealed.
Claudia is a great character, she has keen wits and great courage. She acts to drive events and to control and shape them, as do the rest of the cast. This makes for an exciting and swift narrative, there are no passengers in the story. Everybody wants to be seen and heard and Paul Doherty has the skill to ensure that they are without the story loosing form or focus. Highly entertaining with a very well developed mystery at its heart, well worth reading.

Murder's Immortal Mask. Paul Doherty. Headline Publishing Group. (2008)

A very enjoyable period crime story set in Imperial Rome. Two prostitutes are found murdered and mutilated, creating fears that a notorious killer, Nefandus, had returned to the city. Attius Enobarbus, suspected in the past of being Nefandus, is found murdered in a room locked from the inside. Attius was involved with plans being made by the Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena and his death raises questions that need to be answered. Helena gives her favourite investigator, Claudia, the task of finding out who killed Attica and finding Nefandus. The case is severely complicated by the recent rise in power by the Christian Church and the location of one of its most important and sacred sites. The story is very well structured, the reveals are well staged, the plot lines are carefully bound up together and the conclusion is very satisfying.
The sturdy plot and the well designed mechanics are not the greatest pleasure of the book, that lies with the cast and the context. Paul Doherty has a considerable gift for creating engaging and credible characters who fit into their environment. Claudia moves through a brilliantly evoked Rome like a native, from the dreadful slums to the Imperial Palace she confidently carries out her investigation. She is confident and competent, she works hard at the problems presented to her. The supporting cast, including a superbly unpleasant villain, are very well developed, they all have the spark of life within them. Rome itself, with is narrow streets, bustling crowds and myriad smells is sharply realised, the barely restrained brutality of life in the city is made clear and adds depth and colour to the story.
Thoroughly engaging and very well written, a pleasure.

The Spies of Sobeck. Paul Doherty. Headline Publishing Group (2008)

A very engaging mystery story set in Ancient Egypt. Nubia was annexed by Egypt and proved to be a very important source of wealth and manpower as well as a continuing source of trouble and discontent. Pharaoh Queen Hatusu finds that a Nubian cult , the Arites, have re-emerged in some force to create fear and terror as part of their plans to free Nubia and possibly take over Egypt as well. A series of mysterious deaths, including that of loyal Nubian soldier and sworn enemy of the Arites who is found strangled in a locked room, create a destabilising atmosphere of fear and concern in Thebes. Amerotke, Chief Judge of the Hall of Two Truths, is given the task of investigating these deaths and unravelling the conspiracy.

The story is well constructed, the reveals are nicely paced and the plot threads are cleverly woven together, the conclusion is sharp and fitting. The historical details are more than window dressing, the action of the story arises very naturally from the context. The details of Egyptian life, politics and religion are provided with a light hand, the cast move through them as if they belong there rather than being modern actors in period dress. Paul Doherty has a gift for quick and lively character building, the cast is large,varied and individual. They all move through the story with clear intent, the story emerges in an very appealing way from their interactions.

Paul Doherty has a very considerable talent for making a remote context accessible and not loose sight of the structural requirements for a mystery, he makes it look all very easy and it makes for a very pleasurable read.