Published by The History Press, 8 November 2013.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-9704-4
Lincoln 1217, the French are in charge of the city and besieging the
castle, where the remaining English from the area have made a stand. They are waiting to be rescued by
reinforcements, but help is slow in coming.
Meanwhile, a resistance movement in the city is trying to help, but is
being undermined by traitors who have aligned themselves with the French and are
selling out the locals.
Edwin Weaver, now in the
service of the Earl of Surrey, is enlisted for a dangerous mission. He is to try and find out what the situation
is regarding the troops in the city and get the information back to the forces
coming to Lincoln’s aid. Knowing that
the last person who tried this got decapitated, he needs to keep his eyes and
ears open, not only to find out what the French were up to, but also to root
out the traitors before they betray him.
Mediaeval mystery and
historical record of a chapter in the Anglo French relations, which I certainly
did not know about, this is a gripping read.
The depiction of lives and hardship in the 13th century is
written with conviction and a richness of detail and character which draws the
reader into the time. Treachery and murder
are combined with the ruthlessness and bleakness of the conflict and its impact
on the people in the besieged city.
Nicely crafted and very readable, I would recommend “The Bloody City” to
anyone who enjoys a good murder story, particularly those who like a finely
written historic backdrop.
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Reviewer: Amanda Brown
C B Hanley (who also writes as Catherine Hanley) was born in
Australia; since moving to the UK she has lived in Somerset and Sheffield, and
is currently based in the Midlands with her husband and three children. Her
love of medieval studies led to a PhD and a number of academic and non-fiction
publications, but she decided that writing fiction was more fun.
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