The bleak midwinter - L. C Tyler

The fifth John Grey historical mystery

1668.

John Grey is now a Justice of the Peace and lives in the manor house he has inherited on his mother's death with his new wife, Aminta.

As the village is cut off from the rest of the world by a heavy snowfall, George Barwell is discovered dead in the woods. Grey is called to examine the horribly disfigured body amidst the rumours that the attack has been the work of the Devil as the victim had been cursed by reputed witch Alice Mardike just days before his violent death.

As Barwell's father-in-law leads the villagers into kidnapping Alice and throwing her into the millpond to see if she floats as a witch or drowns as an innocent woman, Grey agrees to investigate the murder: his main suspect is the very man leading the witch hunt.

But if Grey can't solve the mystery of George Barwell's death within a week, Mardike will be tried for witchcraft - and the sentence has already been decided . . .

Praise for L.C. Tyler

'Wit and witchcraft in a snowbound seventeenth century Essex make a potent combination in The Bleak Midwinter, a welcome addition to L.C. Tyler's fine John Grey series of crime novels' Simon Brett, bestselling author of the Blotto and Twinks series

'Unusually accomplished' Helen Dunmore

'I enjoyed The Bleak Midwinter enormously. Len Tyler writes with great charm and wit, and there were parts that made me laugh out loud' Susanna Gregory

'Tyler juggles his characters, story, wit and clever one liners with perfect balance' The Times

'A cracking pace, lively dialogue, wickedly witty one-liners salted with sophistication . . . Why would we not want more of John Grey?' The Bookbag

'A dizzying whirl of plot and counterplot' Guardian

'I was seduced from John Grey's first scene' Ann Cleeves