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The Tavern In The Morning (hawkenlye Mystery)

• ISBN: 9780340739358
• Author: Alys Clare
• Description:
  This is the third book in a series of medieval mysteries, set around the Great Forest in the Weald of Kent. Josse d'Acquin is hunting a poisoner who uses wolf's bane to kill his victims at a local hostelry in Tonbridge. About the Author Alys Clare is a history buff and has written many novels under a different name. Alys Clare lives in Kent, where the Hawkenlye mysteries are set. Excerpted from The Tavern in the Morning by Alys Clare. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved February, Josse d'Acquin thought miserably, was a wretched month for a journey. He was nearly home, and he was experiencing in full the phenomenon of something unpleasant becoming far more so when one need not endure it much longer. The wind was coming steadily from the north-east quarter; into Josse's mind sprang suddenly the memory of a fellow-soldier, a man he'd known years ago, who used to refer to a north-easter as the Snowmother. The Snowmother was making Josse about as uncomfortable as a man could be just then, he reflected grimly. His cloak was soaked through - and it was his heavyweight one, too, guaranteed to keep you dry, curse that lying merchant - and his shoulders were aching with cold. His buttocks were sore, and his thighs were badly chafed from hours of sitting in the saddle with wet hose. He was hungry and thirsty - whatinns there had been on the road that were open for business had had little to offer a traveller in the depths of a harsh winter - and his feet in the sodden, mud-caked boots burned with chilblains. Burned, anyway, where they weren't frozen numb. His horse was in little better state. `Poor old Horace,' Josse murmured, slapping the big horse's neck, `the things I ask of you, eh?' The horse shook his head, and small drops of ice flew from his mane, spinning through the air and catching the weak light. `A thorough rub-down, a good feed, and tonight in your own stable, I promise,' Josse added. `Another five miles, six at most, and we'll be safe home at New Winnowlands.' New Winnowlands. The small but stoutly-built manor house, once forming the dower house of a larger estate, had been given to Josse by King Richard Plantagenet, in grateful thanks for services Josse had rendered. Given, however, had apparently been open to question, by the King at least; even when awarding Josse his prize, the words `at a reasonable price' had crept into Richard's little speech. It had been only on the intercession of his mother, the great Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife to Henry II and beloved queen of the English people, that the gift had managed to stay a gift. Then, damnation take it, two years on and along comes a demand for rent! Rent! Josse had been alarmed, horrified - the mentioned sum of rent arrears was more than sizeable, it was downright huge - and, finally, furiously angry. `The King gave me my house!' he had raged, pacing up and down before his fireplace, spinning round so violently that Will, his manservant, nipped forward and rescued a tray bearing a jug of wine and a half-full goblet before Josse could send them flying. `Two years and more ago, it was a gift! And now he wants me to pay for it!' He turned furious eyes to Will. `In God's name, what can he be thinking of?' Will, who wasn't in a temper and who therefore retained the power of logical thought, pointed out that, with King Richard still far away on crusade in Outremer, the rental demand could scarcely have come from him. `He'll be far too busy with them devil Saracens to worry about a tiddly little manor house, sir,' Will went on, with scant diplomacy, `you mark my words.' Josse, amused despite himself, nodded sagely. `How right you are, Will,' he said, in almost his normal voice. Frowning hard, he muttered, `If not the King, then who?' It took neither Josse nor Will more than a few seconds to come up with the probable answer. Simultaneously Will said, `It'll be that John Lackland, I'll stake money on it,' while Josse exploded, `That calculating, money-grabbing bastard, John! It's him!' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

• Pages: 230
• Format: Hardback
• Genre: Crime
• Rating: Not yet rated

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