I remember reading most or all of Leonard Tourney's Matthew and Joan Stock historical series (17th century England) years and years ago in DTB, and although I don't remember a ton of details after so many years and so many other books, I remember I liked the ones I read. And now the 8-book series is available as a box-set for $0.99/£0.99...
The Complete Elizabethan Murder Mysteries Books 1-8 contains:
The Players’ Boy Is Dead,
Low Treason,
Familiar Spirits,
The Bartholomew Fair Murders,
Old Saxon Blood,
Knaves Templar,
Witness of Bones, and
Frobisher’s Savage
Kindle US:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CB6G4G9R
Kindle UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CB6G4G9R
Spoiler:
Quote:
DISCOVER A *COMPLETE* UNPUTDOWNABLE ELIZABETHAN MYSTERY SERIES FEATURING HUSBAND AND WIFE DETECTIVE DUO MATTHEW AND JOAN STOCK.
EIGHT BOOKS IN ONE GREAT-VALUE BOX SET!
{edited some nonsense}
BOOK 1: THE PLAYER’S BOY IS DEAD
In Shakespearean England, a small players’ troupe performs for a lord and his lady, and none shines more than the young players’ boy. But, at cock’s crow the next day, he is found brutally murdered in his stable bed.
BOOK 2: LOW TREASON
Matthew Stock’s young relation, Thomas, leaves home to apprentice himself to Castell, a jeweller in London. Then he disappears. Castell writes to say Thomas has gone to sea, but Stock is suspicious. He leaves to search for the boy, who meanwhile returns to Essex and tells Joan of the danger he’s in.
BOOK 3: FAMILIAR SPIRITS
1602. Chelmsford is in a frenzy. Witch hunts have pitted neighbours against one another, and there’s a collective hysteria about recent eerie events. What will Matthew and Joan make of the sudden, unexplained deaths and lingering spirits?
BOOK 4: THE BARTHOLOMEW FAIR MURDERS
Matthew Stock becomes involved in murderous matters when he discovers that a bear, trained to kill dogs for the St Bartholomew Fair – attended by the queen – has set its sight on a higher prize.
BOOK 5: OLD SAXON BLOOD
Sir John Challoner has been murdered, so why does no one want to help Joan and Matthew Stock investigate? The castle servants are sullen and the neighbouring gentry abusive. When someone hides the headless body of a serving maid in their chamber, even the level-headed Stocks fear the strange spirit of evil that haunts the castle.
BOOK 6: KNAVES TEMPLAR
One by one, law students are dying. All are deemed suicides, but in truth they are murders, and it befalls humble clothier Matthew Stock to unravel the truth. Meanwhile, Matthew’s wife, Joan, uncovers dangerous secrets on London’s bawdy Elizabethan streets.
BOOK 7: WITNESS OF BONES
As Queen Elizabeth slowly dies, Puritans and Papists play a game of deception. A plot is afoot to unseat her principal advisor, Sir Robert Cecil. Therefore, merchant-constable Matthew Stock, who considers Sir Robert his master, becomes a principal pawn.
BOOK 8: FROBISHER’S SAVAGE
When Sir Martin Frobisher went in search of a Northwest Passage, he got as far as Canada before returning to England. On his return, he was accompanied by an Eskimo man, whom he names “Adam Nemo”. Years later a local family is brutally mutilated, and fingers are pointed at Adam. Matthew and Joan Stock are determined to prove his innocence.
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MEET THE STOCKS
Matthew Stock is a clothier by trade, but also Essex county’s constable. He has a nose for detective work and a marvellous tenor voice. He considers himself a loyal subject to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I, and has been happily married for twenty years.
Joan Stock is Matthew’s practically-minded wife. She is Matthew’s partner in more than just the marital sense, however, and her powers of deduction make her the perfect counterpart in this crime-solving sleuth team.
THE SETTING
16th century, England. Essex, once occupied by the Romans, is now a burgeoning market town and the perfect place for Matthew Stock to run his clothing business. Houses and shops nestle between inns and taverns with all the muck, mire, murder and mystery you’d expect.
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