"Rich atmosphere and well-drawn characters make this a superior historical."

—Publishers Weekly starred review of A Killing Season

"With its intriguing plot, chilling conclusion and characters who exhibit universal and timeless feelings, this fresh first has all the potential to evolve into a series as enduring as Ellis Peters’s Brother Cadfael books."

"Against an authentic backdrop of medieval life and lore, Royal once again brings alive characters who are true to their period yet exhibit emotions and feelings that 21st-century readers will recognize as their own."

"The author subtly treats the erotic charge surrounding Eleanor and Thomas while shedding light on 13th-century understandings of sexuality. Royal draws together the murder, the manuscript and the ghost in an unexpected conclusion."

A Killing Season

aron Herbert’s return from crusade should have been a joyous occasion. Instead, he grows increasingly morose, withdraws from his family, and refuses to share his wife’s bed. When his sons begin to die in strange accidents, some ask whether Herbert harbors a dark sin for which God has cursed him.

The baron suddenly sends for Sir Hugh of Wynethorpe, begging his friend to bring spiritual and secular healers but giving little explanation for the request. Worried about Herbert’s descent into melancholy and the tragic deaths, Sir Hugh persuades his sister, Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal Priory, to accompany him as well as a respected physician, Master Gamel. Although he is pleased when the prioress brings her healer, Sister Anne, he is dismayed to find Brother Thomas included, a man he has reason to despise.

Perhaps there is a malign presence at this storm-blasted castle, oddly named Doux et Dur. Tensions spark among family members and soon between those who came to help. Death’s scythe harvests more victims, and it is not long before Ecclesiastes’ grim words seem all too apt: there is a season for everything under heaven, including a time to kill.

But is there also a time to heal?

Valley of Dry Bones

It wouldn’t be a religious pilgrimage without a murder—at least not in one of Royal’s authentically wrought medieval mysteries. Tensions simmer within and without the walls of Tyndal Priory as Prioress Eleanor and her assistants await the arrival of the royal scouting party designated to approve the convent’s accommodations in advance of the arrival of the queen and her esteemed companions. When Baron Otes, a crafty extortionist with a store of personal secrets he has every intention of cashing in on, is murdered, suspects abound. It is up to Prioress Eleanor, Brother Thomas, and Crowner Ralf to sift through the evidence in order to unravel a crime of passion before more violence is wrought. What makes this series—this is the seventh entry—tick are the recurring subplots involving Eleanor, Thomas, and Ralf that run through all the narratives, binding the characters and their intimate stories together into an intriguing subtext.

Sorrow Without End

"Eleanor's steadfast faith in a merciful God must contend with the vicious nature of man in a compelling resolution."

error grips a remote North Sea priory in Royal's superior medieval thriller, her third to feature Eleanor, prioress of Tyndal (after 2004's Tyrant of the Mind). In 1271, tough-minded Ralf the Crowner, who's trying to bring a brutal serial killer to justice, prevails upon Eleanor to allow the mangled corpse of a lowly foot soldier to be laid in the chapel during his investigation. The "rule of Eve" prevails in Tyndal, where pious Eleanor resists the demands of rival monks who complicate Ralf's work with their own competing agendas for the priory's future. Eleanor faces further challenges when a knight is slain and an infirmarian (or hospital) nun is beaten and raped before the altar. Suspense builds amid a vivid backdrop of lepers wearing "clappers," a madman who chatters warnings, venal relic sellers and the shadowy "man from Acre," haunted by guilt for his wife's death at the hands of a sadistic crusader. Eleanor's steadfast faith in a merciful God must contend with the vicious nature of man in a compelling resolution. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"Tautly woven, this introspective period piece oozes with suspense and intrigue."

Tyrant of the Mind

February 2005: Tyrant of the Mind was one of five nominees for the Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery Award given at Left Coast Crime Conference in El Paso, Texas.

"The chill that pervades Royal's second medieval historical (after 2003's Wine of Violence) stems not just from the bitter winter besetting the Welsh border castle of Wynethorpe but also from the murderous tensions that afflict its occupants. The illness of Richard, grandson of Baron Adam of Wynethorpe, has brought home the boy's aunt, Eleanor, prioress of Tyndal, as well as her companions, Sister Anne, a nun skilled in medicine, and Brother Thomas, a handsome and unwilling monk.

Jealousy, lust, fear and treachery lead to murder, perhaps committed by Eleanor's brother, Robert, who's found standing with a bloody knife over the freshly slain victim. It's up to Eleanor and her oddly matched companions to prove Robert's innocence before medieval justice delivers its swift and violent verdict. The author carefully renders the hardships of surviving the harsh winters without obscuring the small pleasures that people of the period enjoyed. Eleanor, forceful or diplomatic by turns, is an engaging and resourceful heroine, and Brother Thomas shows surprising depths and strengths. Royal brings her 13th-century world vividly and artfully to life in a series sure to have a bright future."

This second medieval mystery featuring the delightfully flawed Eleanor, Prioress of Tyndal, grabs readers by the lapels and forcibly hauls them into eleventh-century East Anglia. Her nephew's illness brings Eleanor back home to Wynthorpe Castle and embroils her in the latest family crisis, which involves her brother Robert's impending marriage.

The prioress skates close to disaster when the bride-to-be's brother Henry meets a violent end, and Robert is found holding the bloody dagger, forcing Eleanor to bring her investigative talents to bear. Aided by the handsome and mysterious Brother Thomas, Eleanor sets her logical mind to solving the puzzle while grappling with the complicated emotional ties between Henry's family and her own, now snowbound together behind the icy walls of Wynthorpe.

Royal combines an intriguing "country house" mystery with an cast of engaging characters whose realistically complex motives and personal issues lend the story depth. With a deft and subtle flair rivaling that of Brother Cadfael, Prioress Eleanor sets her world to rights and leaves us wanting more.

ll books are now available in hardcover, trade paperback, large print, and e-reader versions. "Forsaken Soul', "Chambers of Death," "Valley of Dry Bones," and "Killin gSeason" are available in audiobook from Blackstone Audio.