La segunda entrega de “Los misterios de la Abadía”, en la época de Ricardo Corazón de León. The waters of this spring are similar in colour and taste to Tunbridge Wells's famous Chalybeat Spring, and it was this that prompted Alys's setting of her fictional Hawkenlye Abbey in the very spot where her own house now stands. In England, Alys's study overlooks a stretch of parkland which includes a valley with a little spring. She lives for part of the year in Brittany, in a remote cottage deep in an ancient landscape where many past inhabitants have left their mark on her doorstep are relics that date from the stone circles and dolmens of the Neolithic to the commanderies, chapels and ancient tracks of those infamous warrior monks, the Knights Templar. Brought up in the countryside close to where the Hawkenlye Novels are set, she went to school in Tonbridge and later studied archaeology at the University of Kent. This series is recommended for lovers of medieval murder mysteries.Alys Clare is the pen name used by Elizabeth Harris for the Hawkenlye series of historical mysteries.Īlys Clare is the pseudonym of a novelist with some 20 published works to her name. I recommend the reader start with these two books, and continue the series from there.

The SMSA holds several of the novels, including Fortune Like the Moon and Ashes of the Elements. The Hawkenlye Mysteries are a series of 16 novels published to date.

It also touches upon the Crusades, when a murder in Hawkenlye is directly connected to an unresolved crime from the past. Whilst history books record the official events of the time, this series portrays the daily lives of the general population in a satisfying manner. Not all of the action is set in rural Kent, as Sir Josse hails from an ancient French family and makes regular trips to his ancestral estate.

King Richard sends his trusted knight, Sir Josse d’Aquin, to investigate and soon the Abbess and Sir Josse become equal partners in crime solving.Ītmospheric, well written and with characters brought to life with their own back stories. Presided over by the shrewd, intelligent Abbess Helewise, the first novel commences with a murder. The Abbey is the home and workplace of a community of nuns and lay brothers who specialize in the healing arts. Set in King Richard the Lionheart’s time, it is centered on the Abbey of Hawkenlye in Kent. If you enjoyed Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series (and lamented the author’s passing in 1995), then The Hawkenlye Mysteries, a series of novels by Alys Clare, may help fill the void.

Ashes of the Elements by Alys Clare