Кейт Седли - Death and the Chapman

Oh yes; and God had a hand in it somewhere. He always does. He’s as stubborn and as tenacious as I am about getting His own way. I’ve tried to free myself from Him often and often, but somehow I never could. And now that I’m an old man living on memories, I think I’m glad that I haven’t succeeded.

Find the killer. Solve the case. Save yourself.

Roger the Chapman has been royally commanded to escort a King's messenger, Philip Underwood, who is carrying a vital despatch aboard his ship in Plymouth.

When the messenger is murdered with Roger's own cudgel – a Plymouth cloak – he is appalled to find himself the chief suspect in a world of double-dealing, sin and political chicanery.

Discovering Underwood's shady past of slave dealing, however, Roger quickly learns that the messenger had no shortage of enemies waiting patiently to exact revenge…

Kate Sedley is the pen-name of Brenda Margaret Lilian Clarke (née Honeyman), an English historical novelist. She was born in Bristol in 1926 and educated at The Red Maids’ School, Westbury-on-Trym. She is married and has a son and a daughter, and three grandchildren. Her medieval historical whodunnits feature Roger the Chapman, who has given up a monk’s cell for the freedom of peddling his wares on the road.