genre: historical fiction, murder mystery
The Royal Coroner is an exhaustively researched novel centered around a fictional English knight during the waning years of the 13th century. It seeks to provide insight and dispel popular misconceptions of a bygone era while entertaining readers with a suspenseful mystery and compelling characters.
The novel’s protagonist Sir Richard Keep is a royal coroner of Suffolk County in East Anglia, England. A wandering justice, Sir Richard is charged with investigating suspicious deaths and convening court to dispense justice. The Royal Coroner follows Sir Richard as he investigates a peasant’s murder in the fictional village of Nacton Wood. What initially seems to be a simple case of revenge quickly unfolds into Sir Richard’s most vexing and perilous case to date. Violent brigands, scheming churchmen, and desperate peasants all strive against the coroner, while his own lascivious and unpredictable squire hinders as often as aids Sir Richard’s investigation. Atop all these daunting challenges, nothing threatens Sir Richard more than his own troubled past. A champion warrior in the Second Barons’ uprising against the Crown, Sir Richard was granted clemency yet many noblemen and peasants alike have not forgiven the knight for his prominent role in the rebellion. It does not help that Sir Richard himself has not abandoned his rebellious principles. In solving the murder at Nacton Wood, Sir Richard is forced to choose between justice for society’s most powerless or the royal coroner’s own survival.
genre: medieval fantasy
In the ancient kingdom of Baudlin, a fire has taken the life of King Densun’s sole heir. Rumors of prowling assassins and murder spread like a disease through the frightened realm. The royal sorcerer, Orell, urges his king to seek vengeance and King Densun summons his people to take up arms. The young peasant Heathel is one of the first to muster. Loyal to his king and eager for adventure, Heathel joins the king’s army. The peasant’s life and soul are soon threatened not just by war, but the seductive powers of an ambitious sorcerer who offers to use his magic to make the young warrior immortal.
Chronicles of the River Empress: Between a Spider and a Throg
genre: fantasy, young adult
A collection of stories chronicling a young girl’s adventures aboard her family’s ship traveling through a magical desert kingdom.
Stories, Tales, and Trails 