CHAPTER 2

He was shortly overtaken by a trotting line of pack-horses, their rope-bound bundles strapped firmly to backs and sides.  Their rider at lead did not give him so much as a look, but Joliffe and the rear man shared friendly nods as they passed.  The titupping of hoofs faded, the rain gave up, and for a time Joliffe was alone on the road again, except companioned now by regret at how much of ease was gone from his day.  He had been looking forward to being simply a player in Coventry.  Now he was supposed to find out what he could about this Master Kydwa.  And Lollards…

Near the beginning of the outline for A Play of Heresy, Joliffe, having parted company with his fellow-spy, “goes on, alone again, into Coventry.  He finds Basset and the others…”  There.  Done.  Joliffe arrives in Coventry; Joliffe finds his friends; now we can get on with murdering people.  Simple enough, yes?

Or not.

In a story set in a modern setting much can go unsaid.  “He pulled up outside the motel office where ‘Vacancy’ glowed in the window.”   That’s all understandable enough to a modern reader.  But “arrives in Coventry” – and medieval Coventry at that – conveys no real sense of place.  Those bald words contain no sense of what Joliffe actually experiences in arriving there in 1438.  So, as the author, I have to make Coventry happen for the reader right along with Joliffe, and that simple statement in the outline —  “Joliffe goes into Coventry” — led to my digging into my files folders for photos, maps, and descriptions of Coventry that I had accumulated over the years, plus accessing my memories of several visits there, plus finding a wonderful site online that amplified and clarified much I already had.

Every bit of all that was then distilled into a few paragraphs of description mixed with action, as Joliffe arrived in Coventry by way of the Warwick road.  Such are the delightful travails of research – much learned so it can be refined down to precisely the little needed in the story itself.  But without the much, a writer can’t be sure exactly what little is needed.

Of course threaded through the whole story, as Joliffe wanders the town in search of secrets and truths, are more details about Coventry.  Drawn from all those maps and photos and descriptions, they help to build a picture of a thriving town full of proud, prosperous citizens – an everyday setting of normal lives into which the story’s deceptions and murders are woven.  To this day, after all the time I’ve spent “walking through Coventry” with Joliffe, I have the nagging suspicion that, if I had to, I could now find my way in medieval Coventry fairly handily.

But of course there’s nearly nothing of medieval Coventry left for us to wander in for real.  Unlike many towns that still have their medieval streets, Coventry’s medieval heart is gone, bombed and burned along with its cathedral during World War II and afterward rebuilt to meet more modern needs.  Only in our imaginations, drawing on what facts remain, can we still wander there.  But that’s what historical novelists should delight in doing – helping us to walk where otherwise we never could, because that’s one of the reasons we read historical novels, right?  To experience another place in another time, where otherwise we could never go.

I, at least, greatly enjoyed my time in medieval Coventry and deeply hope that you will, too.

– Margaret

Follow the virtual bookclub for A Play of Heresy on Facebook and Twitter.

CHAPTER 1

The day was dove-gray, soft under low clouds, with the rain mist-gentle on Joliffe’s face and beading silver on his horse’s dark mane.  His cloak was a long way yet from soaking through nor had he troubled to pull up his hood; the rain felt good against his face.  Too, he judged by blue patches of sky showing in the east that clearing weather was on the way and there would likely be sun enough to dry his hair and cloak well before he came to Coventry, especially since he was making no hurry of his going…

In the opening chapter of A Play of Heresy, I wanted to layer in some details of the spy-work Joliffe had been at before the story starts, both to give a sense of what sort of man he is and build a feeling for the reader of the wider world beyond the circle of the book’s immediate action.  In historicals, this sense of the wider world is useful in making sure the characters are seen as existing in a complex context, not simply in the narrow bubble of the story.  In this case, rather than rather gratuitously resorting to mention of unrelated famous events of the time with no bearing on the story (to be avoided at all costs, in any case), I enjoyed involving Joliffe in more local – but no less real – issues among the region’s gentry and lower nobility, at just the level Bishop Beaufort could make best use of his skills.

Happily, I had my notes from Christine Carpenter’s Locality and Polity: A Study of Warwickshire Landed Society, 1401-1499 and her article “The Beauchamp Affinity: A study of bastard feudalism at work” (English Historical Review xcv, 1980) to draw on for all the details I needed (and more).

Interestingly, this isn’t a book or article I had just read, or even read specifically to use for A Play of Heresy.  In fact, I read them a good many years ago simply because they cover the period in which I’m particularly involved and would serve to add to my layers of my knowledge about the time and people.  I didn’t know if I would ever have particular use for what I read, but this is what it’s like for a fanatic researcher – reading and studying not simply what seems to be needed for your immediate purpose but everything that comes to hand, because you never know what, at some point, will suddenly be of use.

Besides – all right: I’ll admit it – I find this sort of reading-for-research just out-and-out plain fun!

– Margaret

Follow the virtual bookclub for A Play of Heresy on Facebook and Twitter.

The virtual bookclub for A Play of Heresy is starting tomorrow. You’ll want to check in here for my first behind-the-scenes essaylet and then join the discussion at Facebook and Twitter.

In the mean time, here are some early reviews for the book:

Nobody does the Middle Ages better than Margaret Frazer…

There are a number of plot threads here, all intriguing in their own right: the goings-on within Joliffe’s regular troupe; the creation of a remarkable dramatic production by an experienced director, whose mostly amateur cast is endowed with wildly divergent skills; the amorous pursuit of a young widow by two men; and Joliffe’s relationship with the secretive and obsessive Sebastian, who’s also part of the spy network.

One of Frazer’s talents is making even her minor characters distinct and well-rounded. There are no cardboard stereotypes here! These people live and breathe and stride right off the page, which makes them remarkably appealing despite the hundreds of years between their world and ours.

Roberta Alexander – January Magazine

Margaret Frazer takes readers back to the fifteenth century in her latest book, A Play of Heresy, the seventh book in the Joliffe the Player series. This is an English historical cozy that will have fans of both genres enthralled. Joliffe first appeared in Frazer’s Dame Frevisse series and has gone on to become quite the crime solver himself. Joliffe, a stage performer makes a wonderful sleuth and spy taking Coventry by storm in this latest installment to the series.

This is my first experience with Joliffe the Player and Margaret Frazer, but it won’t be my last…

The mystery aspect of the novel was well written and very tightly plotted. Everything had to fall into place just right. The clues were well drawn and hard to figure out, a hallmark of a good mystery writer. I didn’t nail this one down until very close to the reveal. Frazer throws in many twists and turns and her work is full of historical referencing and side stories that will interest the mystery reader with a penchant for history.

Debbie’s Book Bag

The rich historical detail brought the story alive in my imagination and included how plays were run, how official murder investigations were done, and information about the Lollard’s beliefs…

It’s more like how a real murder would be solved than a clever puzzle-mystery. The characters were varied… The suspense was created by the mystery of whodunit and wondering if they’d be able to pull off a play that was poorly written and had few good or experienced players in it.

GenreReviews

If you’ve written a review (or just spot one out in the wild), please link it in the comments!

I’ll see you all tomorrow at our virtual bookclub!

– Margaret

A Play of Heresy has officially arrived! (I know that some of you are still waiting for the postman to bring your copy, but I hope the wait will be worth it.)

I am very pleased to announce that we’ll be celebrating the release of the book — my 24th and the seventh in the Joliffe series — with a virtual book tour starting on December 10th. Each day we’ll be focusing on a chapter from the book and I’ll be featuring little behind-the-scene essaylets here on the website.

If you want to join the conversation — or just eavesdrop on the proceedings — you’ll want to follow the virtual bookclub at all three of its “hubs”: Here on the website, at my Facebook fanpage, and on my new Twitter account. If you want to jump in on the latter, we’ll be using the #MFbookclub hashtag for the proceedings.

– Margaret