Set in Regency Cambridge, 1825-1830
After the experience of writing a series featuring magistrates’ constable Sam Plank, I knew exactly what I wanted to do next. I live in Cambridge in the east of England, which is a city with a rich and varied history. It was once the location of the largest and most important annual fair in mediaeval Europe, and is still home to one of the oldest universities in the world. The conflict and co-operation between the worlds of commerce and academia in Cambridge are always fluctuating, and in 1825 it was decided that the university should take more responsibility for controlling its rowdy scholars by appointing a cadre of constables.
Of course I could not resist the temptation to create a university constable of my own, and so Gregory Hardiman was born. He’s not a Cambridge man, and comes to the city via Norfolk, Gibraltar, Spain, Ireland and Australia – which gives him quite the complex backstory. You can make his acquaintance in Ostler, set in 1825 – the year of his appointment as a constable. His adventures continue in Sizar, set in 1826. Three more Gregory stories are planned.
Ostler – Cambridge Hardiman Mysteries book one
Shortlisted for the SELFIES BOOK AWARD 2024
After the horrors of war against the forces of Napoleon and the hardships of guarding convicts in Australia, ex-soldier Gregory Hardiman is enjoying the quiet life of an ostler at a Cambridge coaching inn, with only the occasional nightmare to disturb his sleep, and memories of lost loves to disturb his waking hours. But when the inn’s cook is found drowned in the river in the spring of 1825 and his distraught widow pleads for help, Gregory finds himself caught up in the unexpectedly murky world of college life in the town. As fine wines and precious artworks disappear from St Clement’s College, he navigates uneasily between the public world of the coaching inn and the hidden life behind the high walls of the college. And when a new law requires the university to create a cadre of constables, will Gregory take on the challenge?
Sizar – Cambridge Hardiman Mysteries book two
To be published on 5 December 2024, and already available for pre-order in e-format from Amazon
In the spring of 1826, ex-soldier Gregory Hardiman is settling in to civilian life as an ostler and university constable in Cambridge. When an undergraduate is found hanged in his rooms at St Clement’s College, the Master asks Gregory to find out what could have driven the seemingly happy young man to take such a drastic step. A second death at the same college suggests something altogether more sinister, and Gregory sets out to discover whether a love of illegal gambling on horse races could lie at the heart of the tragedies.
In the second of the Cambridge Hardiman Mysteries, Gregory finds himself on shifting sands – torn between family ties in Spain and the possibility of new affections in Cambridge.
