Home / Authors / Paul Doherty

Author

Paul Doherty

1946

Paul Doherty is a British historian and author best known for historical mysteries set in medieval England and the ancient world. Born in Middlesbrough in 1946, he studied history at the University of Liverpool and completed a doctorate at Oxford on Edward II and Queen Isabella. Alongside his writing career, he worked for many years in education and served as a headmaster. He was appointed OBE for his services to education.

Doherty has written more than one hundred books, including the Hugh Corbett medieval mysteries and The Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan. His fiction also explores ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Tudor court and other periods of political and religious upheaval. Writing under several pseudonyms, including Paul Harding, Michael Clynes and C. L. Grace, he combines murder investigations with detailed portrayals of court politics, warfare, religious belief and everyday historical life.

Periods and events

Reign of Richard II Hundred Years’ War in France Yorkist England Reign of Edward II Reign of Edward I Wars of Scottish Independence Peasants’ Revolt Reign of Henry VIII Italian Renaissance Elizabethan Religious Settlement Battle of Tewkesbury Reign of Constantine I Readeption of Henry VI Princes in the Tower

Series

Series by Paul Doherty (12 series)

Brother Athelstan Mysteries in Order

by Paul Doherty 18 books 4.5

The Brother Athelstan Mysteries are set in London during the minority and early reign of Richard II. Athelstan is a Dominican friar serving the poor parish of St Erconwald’s in Southwark, while Sir John Cranston is the city coroner. Their investigations move between taverns, churches, guild halls, royal…

The Nightingale Gallery

4.4

The House of the Red Slayer

4.5

Murder Most Holy

4.6

The Anger of God

4.6

The House of Crows

4.6

The Assassin’s Riddle

4.6

The Devil’s Domain

4.5

The Field of Blood

4.5

The House of Shadows

4.4

The Book of Fires

4.5

The Herald of Hell

4.5

The Great Revolt

4.5

A Pilgrimage to Murder

4.6

The Hanging Tree

4.6

Murder Most Treasonable

4.6

Murder’s Snare

4.6

The Meadows of Murder

4.6

THE Meadows of MURDER an Unputdownable Medieval Historical Novel

4.6

Margaret Beaufort Mysteries in Order

by Paul Doherty 4 books 4.5

The Margaret Beaufort Mysteries begin in the aftermath of the Yorkist victories of 1471, when Edward IV controls the English crown and Margaret Beaufort’s son, Henry Tudor, survives in exile. Margaret cannot challenge the regime openly, so her household becomes a centre of guarded correspondence, covert alliances and…

Dark Queen Rising

4.4

Dark Queen Waiting

4.3

Dark Queen Watching

4.6

Dark Queen Wary

4.5

Hugh Corbett Mysteries in Order

by Paul Doherty 24 books 4.4

The Hugh Corbett Mysteries follow a royal clerk, diplomat and Keeper of the Secret Seal from the reign of Edward I into the troubled rule of Edward II. Corbett investigates murders that threaten royal government, foreign negotiations and the security of the crown. His work takes him from…

Satan in St Mary’s

4.1

Crown in Darkness

4.2

Spy in Chancery

4.3

The Angel of Death

4.4

The Prince of Darkness

4.3

Murder Wears a Cowl

4.4

The Assassin in the Greenwood

4.4

The Song of a Dark Angel

4.5

Satan’s Fire

4.4

The Devil’s Hunt

4.4

The Demon Archer

4.4

The Treason of the Ghosts

4.5

Corpse Candle

4.4

The Magician’s Death

4.4

The Waxman Murders

4.3

The Mysterium

4.3

Dark Serpent

4.5

Devil’s Wolf

4.5

Death’s Dark Valley

4.5

Hymn to Murder

4.5

Mother Midnight

4.5

Realm of Darkness

4.5

Banners of Hell

4.5

Immortal Murder

4.5

Kathryn Swinbrooke Mysteries in Order

by Paul Doherty 7 books 4.4

The Kathryn Swinbrooke Mysteries follow a physician and apothecary working in Canterbury during the unsettled Yorkist years after the Wars of the Roses. Kathryn’s medical knowledge allows her to distinguish natural death from poisoning, injury and deliberate deception, while her independence brings her into investigations involving civic officials,…

A Shrine of Murders

4.3

The Eye of God

4.4

The Merchant of Death

4.4

The Book of Shadows

4.4

Saintly Murders

4.5

A Maze of Murders

4.4

A Feast of Poisons

4.4

Hugh Corbett in Order

by Paul Doherty 1 book 4.5

Devil’s Wolf (Hugh Corbett Mysteries, Book 19)

4.5

Canterbury Tales Mysteries in Order

by Paul Doherty 7 books 4.4

The Canterbury Tales Mysteries use the pilgrimage framework associated with Geoffrey Chaucer. Travellers setting out from the Tabard Inn agree to exchange darker evening tales alongside their ordinary stories, and each volume gives a different pilgrim a mystery of murder, haunting, revenge or concealed guilt. The stories range…

An Ancient Evil

4.3

A Tapestry of Murders

4.3

A Tournament of Murders

4.5

Ghostly Murders

4.4

The Hangman’s Hymn

4.4

A Haunt of Murder

4.3

The Midnight Man

4.2

Mathilde of Westminster Trilogy in Order

by Paul Doherty 3 books 4.3

The Mathilde of Westminster Trilogy is narrated by a physician who once served Isabella of France before and after her marriage to Edward II. Looking back from later life, Mathilde records the murders, poisonings and acts of espionage that surrounded the young queen’s household. Her medical skill and…

The Cup of Ghosts

4.3

The Poison Maiden

4.3

The Darkening Glass

4.4

Sir Roger Shallot Tudor Mysteries in Order

by Paul Doherty 6 books 4.3

The Sir Roger Shallot Tudor Mysteries are presented as the recollections of an elderly rogue who once served Benjamin Daunbey, nephew of Cardinal Wolsey. During the early reign of Henry VIII, Roger and Benjamin are sent to investigate murders, stolen relics, espionage and threats to the Tudor dynasty.…

The White Rose Murders

4.1

The Poisoned Chalice

4.4

The Grail Murders

4.4

A Brood of Vipers

4.4

The Gallows Murders

4.4

The Relic Murders

4.4

Political Intrigue in Ancient Rome in Order

by Paul Doherty 5 books 4.3

Political Intrigue in Ancient Rome moves between the Julio-Claudian court and the transformed empire of Constantine I. Domina follows Agrippina the Younger’s struggle for influence as wife of Claudius and mother of Nero. The four Claudia mysteries then shift to the early fourth century, where an imperial agent…

Domina

4.2

Murder Imperial

4.2

The Song of the Gladiator

4.4

The Queen of the Night

4.4

Murder’s Immortal Mask

4.4

Alexander the Great Mysteries in Order

by Paul Doherty 3 books 4.3

The Alexander the Great Mysteries follow Telamon, a physician and boyhood companion of Alexander, during the opening campaign against the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 334 BCE. Alexander’s army has crossed from Macedonia into Asia, but assassinations, infiltrators and rivalries within the command threaten the expedition before and between…

The House of Death

4.3

The Godless Man

4.3

The Gates of Hell

4.4

Matthew Jankyn Mysteries in Order

by Paul Doherty 2 books 4.2

The Matthew Jankyn Mysteries follow a former thief and suspected Lollard who enters the service of Bishop Henry Beaufort. Jankyn’s criminal experience makes him useful as an investigator and agent, but his loyalties remain divided between survival, religious doubt and the demands of a powerful Lancastrian patron. The…

The Whyte Harte

4.2

The Serpent Amongst the Lilies

4.1

Templar in Order

by Paul Doherty 2 books 4.1

The Templar novels trace the order from the First Crusade to its established power in the mid-twelfth-century Crusader States. The Templar follows Hugh de Payens, Godfrey de Saint-Omer and Eleanor as they travel east with the crusading armies and confront the brutality, deprivation and political bargaining behind the…