Sir Robert Carey Mysteries

9 primary works

A Famine of Horses

by P F Chisholm

Published 1 March 1995

In 1592, Sir Robert Carey, a handsome courtier, comes north to Carlisle to take up his new post as Deputy Warden of the West March. He has wangled his appointment to be nearer his true love, a married woman, and far from the gimlet eyes of his creditors and the disapproving eye of his father. Sir Robert is quick to realize he won't see any perks from the job if he fails to keep the peace. Alas, he is quickly challenged by the murder of a local lad, the possible betrayal of a disappointed rival, the ire of the lady's husband, and the question of the horses - the hundreds of horses being stolen from all over the neighborhood. It's hard to say whether the greater danger lies without the city walls amidst the scheming Scots - or within, amidst the unruly English garrison.

A Season of Knives

by P F Chisholm

Published 2 March 1995

In 1592, Sir Robert Carey, a handsome courtier fleeing his creditors, his father's wrath, and the close scrutiny of his Queen, came north to Carlisle to take up his new post as Deputy Warden of the West March. The presence of his true love, the married Elizabeth Widdrington, was no mere coincidence. Before long, Sir Robert was up to his ruff in horse rustling and treason (A Famine of Horses), but he sorted that out with dispatch.

Now he's in trouble again. The rowdy Grahams plan to kidnap Elizabeth as she journeys home to her husband. While Sir Robert storms out to stop them, someone murders the man he has just sacked from his post of paymaster to the Carlisle garrison. When Sir Robert returns, he finds his servant Barnabus slung into the castle dungeon, accused of the crime, and his arch enemy Sir Richard Lowther scheming to have Carey arrested for masterminding the murder...

When even faithful Sergeant Dodd is prepared to believe he did it, the courtier finds his hands full - while ruin stares him in the face - as he juggles the murder inquiry and untangles a skein of love and greed that reminds him most uncomfortably of how carefully he must conceal his love for Elizabeth.

A Surfeit of Guns

by P F Chisholm

Published 1 April 1997

Sir Robert Carey took up his northern post as Warden of the West March in order to escape the complications of creditors and court life. However the dashing Carey, possibly a cousin of the Queen, merely trades one set of troubles for another. One black night in 1592, Carey is on night patrol along the unsettled border anchored by the garrison in Carlisle. It's a disaster. First, there's the fugitive he has to hand over to the warring Scots. Next come Wee Colin Elliot's sheep stealers. And then a gun explodes and takes off the hand of one of Carey's men. Back in Carlisle, Carey soon learns more faulty guns lie in the armoury in place of the sound weapons shipped in from Newcastle only last week. When these explosive deathtraps are stolen, he sets off in pursuit of both batches of guns-and the thieves. The search ends in Dumfries where King James VI of Scotland-potentially King James I of England when his cousin Elizabeth dies-and his raucous court have assembled. James is as dissolute as ever, lovely Lady Elizabeth Widdrington, Carey's true love, is still shackled to her husband, and seductive Signora Bonnetti takes a serious interest in Carey and in the missing guns. Will the frustrated courtier be gallant enough to flirt with the Signora-and with treason?...

A Plague of Angels

by P F Chisholm

Published 2 June 1998

In 1592, dashing courtier Sir Robert Carey took up his northern post as Warden of the West March in order to escape the complications of creditors and court life. Trouble, however, dogs his heels wherever he goes. And where he goes in autumn, after the summer's misadventures in Carlisle, is back to London upon a summons from his father. Carey is on difficult terms with his powerful sire, Henry, Lord Hunsdon. Hunsdon, son of Anne Boleyn's elder sister, Mary-and probably of a young King Henry VIII-swings a lot of weight as ''cousin'' to Queen Elizabeth. But Hunsdon needs his ingenious younger son, Carey to sort out the difficulties his elder son has got himself into as an innocent party in a plot to discredit the family. Accompanied by the shrewd Sergeant George Dodd, who's like a fish out of water as he copes with the strange Londoners, Carey tackles Catholics, treachery, and such persons known to history and students of literature as George Greene and Christopher Marlowe who are working as spies and double agents. Most arresting is a portrait of a love-sick, sniveling hanger-on named Will Shakespeare....

A Murder of Crows

by P F Chisholm

Published 30 April 2010

An Air of Treason

by P F Chisholm

Published 4 February 2014

A Chorus of Innocents

by P F Chisholm

Published 4 August 2015

This time out, it's Sir Robert Carey's unhappily married love, Elizabeth, who solves a murder steeped in political intrigue. Lady Elizabeth Widdrington is buying two horses that had most likely been stolen in Scotland when her friend Poppy Burn arrives in a terrible state. Far gone in pregnancy, the hysterical Poppy reveals that her husband, James, a minister over the Scottish border in Wendron, was murdered by two strangers who also raped her. Despite the fact that Elizabeth knows her cruel and indifferent husband, Sir Henry, will be furious, she crosses the border herself, accompanied by young Henry and several Widdrington cousins, to see James properly buried. At Poppy's house she finds the strong-willed dowager Lady Hume of Norland, who's perhaps a little mad, doing all in her power to keep her beloved grandson, Hughie, out of the hands of Lord Spynie, the homosexual favorite of King James VI of Scotland. Although the border country is rife with stealing, murder, and clan rivalries, Elizabeth can't help but think that some more intimate intrigue is responsible for the death of a popular minister who was running a school for boys.
She soon finds herself in trouble with several factions but continues to hunt for information. In the meantime, Sir Robert Carey, suffering from a toothache and in search of help, runs into the barber surgeon, Mr. Anricks, recently returned from helping Elizabeth in Wendron. Once Anricks, who's more than he seems, joins with Elizabeth and Carey, a dangerous hunt can be brought to a satisfying conclusion. One of Chisholm's best Elizabethan mysteries (An Air of Treason, 2014, etc.), combining all the historical information readers have come to expect with a swiftly moving story featuring a strong woman whose romantic aspirations have yet to be fulfilled.

A Clash of Spheres

by P F Chisholm

Published 4 April 2017

A Suspicion of Silver

by P F Chisholm

Published 11 December 2018

A brand-new Sir Robert Carey mystery, perfect for fans of C.J. Sansom and S.J. Parris.

Sir Robert Carey, Deputy Warden of the West March, has just foiled a double plot to assassinate King James. Now he rides for Leith hunting the would-be killer Joachim Hochstetter. Has he taken ship for the Continent, or ridden south for England and, quite literally, gone to ground?

Originally from Augsburg, Hochstetter's family runs a smelting business in Keswick amid a colony of German miners. Just how far would they go to protect one of their own?

Sir Robert's other problem? His dour, difficult Sergeant, Henry Dodd, has disappeared somewhere on the snowy moors. They found his horse... but there's no sign of the rider. Sir Robert's searches will see him sorely tested, both above and below ground, at sword's point and at fuse's end...

'Chisholm displays a masterful hand ... A resoundingly satisfying conclusion and a terrific hook. I have never loved Sir Robert more' DANA STABENOW.