Doherty, P(aul) C.

(British)

Doherty was born in Middlesbrough. He read medieval history at Oxford and combines his careers as a London headmaster and author of medieval murder mysteries. The Assassin in the Greenwood (1993) is a good introduction to Hugh Corbett, Edward I's chief clerk and investigator-protagonist of a growing number of Doherty's books. Corbett's hands are full, with espionage against the French and a visit to Nottingham to look into Robin Hood's reappearance. The Demon Archer (1999) finds him with a disconcertingly wide range of suspects after the detested Lord Henry Fitzalan is slain during a hunt. In Satan's Fire (1995) Corbett contends with the Knights Templar as he unravels a legacy of intrigue rooted in the last crusade. A Tapestry of Murders (1994) features Chaucer's Man of Law, whose off-record tale is of murder and treachery in London's medieval underworld.

Ellis Peters, Umberto Eco, Robert Nye  DH