Over the past few months I’ve gotten many e-mails from Nook owners all asking the same thing: When will your stories be available for the Nook?

And the answer to that is: Right now. We got the Frevisse e-books up a few weeks ago and I’ve just received word that the conversion process has been finished for all of my e-books and they’re now available for sale at the Barnes & Noble website. Going forward, the Nook and Kindle versions will be getting released simultaneously whenever that’s legally possible.

 

(click any cover for its Nook page)

Kobo Owners: I know many of you are also waiting for these titles to be available through the Kobo store. Unfortunately, we have no idea when that will happen. Although you can buy the e-books available from Berkeley, Kobo has not made the other Frevisse e-books available despite the fact that they were submitted weeks and/or months ago. I have no control over this, and I recommend writing directly to Kobo if you want to see any action taken on it. It is within their power to offer the books; they simply haven’t done so.

However, the older Frevisse e-books (the ones that I have control over) are currently available through Smashwords. And if you buy them through Smashwords, you’ll be able to download them in a wide variety of formats, including the ePub format which will allow you to read them on your Kobo. (In fact, the formats available on Smashwords should let you read the books on any e-reader you might own.)

We’ll be converting the rest of the novelettes and short stories to Smashwords in the near future, and I’ll post an update here when that happens.

My tech person also tells me that we do not use DRM at any of our digital outlets, which means that it should be relatively easy to convert file formats. (Although, honestly, I’d be lost if you asked me to do it.)

– Margaret

“Lowly Death” has been released for the Kindle and Nook. It can also be read on any iPad, Android, Windows PC, Mac, or Blackberry device using the free Kindle Reading Apps for those platforms.

A CUNNING AND CLEVER GREED…

Come down the Paternoster Passage, cross the church’s yard, and knock on the doors of Master Whittington’s Almshouse. Master Pecock, a man of the cloth and the greatest detective of 15th century London, will answer your call.

Just as he answers Dick Colop’s call. The mother of young Colop’s friend has slipped, fallen, and died. But something doesn’t feel right about it. There’s a strange uneasiness creeping at the back of Colop’s mind.

And then there was the matter of the candle.

It was in the kitchen. A burned down stub of a candle. It had rolled under a table. And left a thick splattering of wax on the floor a foot or so away.

That was enough. Master Pecock was on the scent. The scent of lies. The scent of wrongs. The scent of murder.

Kindle Edition – Nook Edition

“Lowly Death” is the third tale of Bishop Pecock, coming after “Heretical Murder” and after “The Simple Logic of It”. It was first published in Murder Most Catholic, edited by Ralph McInerny. Master Pecock has advanced in his priestly career and is now head of the well-endowed Whittington Almshouses in London.  Rather than the tendrils of national crime, here he deals with a domestic matter.

The plot came – as so many of my plots do – from an actual medieval situation.  I will often be innocently reading some scholarly study or else the documents themselves, when something catches at the criminally-inclined corner of my mind and I suddenly ask, “Yes, but what if…” and away I’ll be, the twisty mind of a mystery writer turning what – in the document – was a perfectly straightforward business matter into a full-blooded (and usually bloody) convolution of human relationships and situations. And when I look back from the finished story to the innocent document that started at all, I’ll often be surprised at how far the transmutation of imagination has taken the original few facts.

One small but continually niggling thing stays with me from this story: The editor’s note at the beginning of the anthology.  There Mr. McInerny stated that, although the story “uses medieval setting for color, it remains a thoroughly modern deductive mystery”. In fact, the methods of deduction used in the story are perfectly medieval, drawn directly from the methods of deduction outlined by Master Pecock himself in his own works of circa 1450, wherein he urged people to seek truth through the use of reason and demonstrated how to do it, very much in the way he uses logic and reason in this story.

– Margaret

“Heretical Murder” has been released for the Kindle and Nook. It can also be read on any iPad, Android, Windows PC, Mac, or Blackberry device using the free Kindle Reading Apps for those platforms.

BETWEEN DUTY AND BLOOD…

Questionable matters? Strange deaths? Mysteries most foul? The cleverest man in 15th century England lives at Master Whittington’s Almshouse! Turn right off College Hill Street, go through the narrow Paternoster Passage, and knock on the third door on the left.

Dick Colop, student and scrivener, knows those directions well. They take him to the quiet study of Sire Pecock, priest of the Church and scholar of both man and book. A man has been cut down in the busy streets of London. The sheriff thinks it nothing more than a tavern brawl, but Colop knows that he never made it through the door.

A terrible accident or something worse? Sire Pecock will follow the dark and murderous ways of heresy to find the truth of sin.

Kindle Edition – Nook Edition

“Heretical Murder” was originally written for the Mammoth Book of More Historical Whodunits. (Which was published as the Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits in England; which is not to be confused with the previous volume of the exact same name which contained a completely different set of stories including “The Witch’s Tale”.  I take no responsibility for the vague ways of publishers.)

I don’t remember why the allowed word-count for this story was so high, but I took full advantage of it to write a story that roamed through the streets of London, keeping company with one of my favorite people from the 1400s – the scholar and churchman Reynold Pecock (otherwise called “Reginald” by modern scholars).

He had crossed my path more than once in my years of research and reading but never caught my interest until I attended a session at the International Congress of Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and heard two scholars – Stephen E. Lahey and Brent Moberley — discussing Bishop (as he became) Pecock.  Talking with them afterwards, I confessed that, rather than a legitimate scholar, I wrote medieval murder mysteries.  After what I read as a startled pause, they both declared with delight that Bishop Pecock would make a great detective.

Somewhat taken aback by the idea but intrigued by what they had been saying about him, I set to taking a longer, deeper look at Reynold Pecock, even going so far as to read some of his religious treatises in Middle English.  I found him a delightful, interesting, complex man and knew I had to use him in a story or – better yet — stories.
This particular one is chronologically the first of the three short stories in which he figures and finds him early in his career in London after a long while as a scholar and teacher at the University of Oxford.

The uprising that is a background to this story is historical, and it may be worthwhile to note that although the use of the word “pamphlet” forty years before the introduction of printing to England may jar with some readers, it is not an anachronism.  It is the actual word used in a contemporary chronicle regarding Lollard activities in London at this time.  More than that, the copying of books was indeed a commercial enterprise in London at the time, and a family named Colop was prominent in it.

– Margaret

“The Stone-Worker’s Tale” and “Winter Heart” have been added to the Master Chronology of Frevisse and Joliffe Books. Both stories take place in 1454, two years after the events of The Apostate’s Tale.

– Margaret

My Winter Heart Blog Tour is coming to its end, and I can’t believe how much fun I’ve had.  As an author, I cheerfully spend most of my time alone, immersed in my work.  Over the years, signings and suchlike have drawn me out only occasionally.  So this venture into the cyber-world has been an adventure.  Thank you, one and all, for sharing it with me.

Looking ahead, I’ve been selected to speak at the Historical Novel Society Conference in San Diego, CA, which will take place June 17th thru 19th, 2011. Among other things, I’ll be moderating a panel:

Keeping a Series Fresh
Saturday, June 18th, 2011
8:30 – 9:30 AM

I’ve been doing some light reading to familiarize myself with the matter. What are your thoughts? What keeps a series fresh for you? Drop by my Facebook page and join the discussion.

REVIEW ROUND-UP

This was my first exposure to medieval mystery, and I have to say, I was highly intrigued.  It took a little while to get into the story, as the type of language and pacing is a little different than a contemporary mystery novel, but once I adjusted my mindset, I flew through this book.  I was excited to see Domina Frevisse at work, to learn her line of reasoning and type of logic.  I really enjoyed her as a character.  We do not learn much about her personally in this book, but it is not necessary for us to feel a deep connection with her in order to appreciate her character.

I really loved the setting of this book, as it was so unique.  Medieval mysteries are a highly specified genre, and the only other author in the genre I am at all familiar with is Michael Jecks, so chances are readers who like his work will also like works by Frazer.  This story is one from a series starring Frevisse, but it also works well as a stand alone book for readers like me just getting acquainted with Frazer’s work.

Before now I had not read any of Frazer’s Dame Frevisse or Player Joliffe mysteries, though I’d long wanted to! This is a novella, so it’s a very quick read and a great introduction to Dame Frevisse for anyone who’s not familiar with the series. It’s different from most other historical fiction I’ve read in that, one, the main character is a nun, and so most of the story takes place inside a nunnery, and two, it paints a vivid and realistic picture of life in a tiny medieval village, and it’s not all quaint and dreamy. It’s winter, life is hard. Crown officials are seldom seen, and it’s up to the village to keep its own peace. I enjoyed it, and you know me–anything that educates as well as entertains me gets a thumbs up in my book!

Margaret Frazer brings medieval England to life.

I absolutely love the Dame Frevisse novels!

Sister Frevisse, now Domina Frevisse as prioress of St. Frideswide’s, has more to worry about now that she is responsible for the whole priory. But she always has time to solve a murder! When Master Naylor comes to her with the problem of Tom Kelstowe, she cannot help being intrigued. Tom had disappeared after being accused of rape, and under the law to flee is to admit guilt. But he returns claiming he was kidnapped, and though doubtful, Frevisse gives him a second chance. Then a murder occurs.

Frevisse is as sharp as ever, and Frazer’s characterization and historical background as good as ever, in this short (too short!) return to St. Frideswide’s and our old familiar friends. I just wish the visit had been longer to prolong the pleasure her books always give me.

If you’ve ever wished you could drop in on 15th century England, reading a novel by Margaret Frazer is almost like being there. Witness the author’s new novella, “Winter Heart,” which features an old friend, Dame Frevisse, now become Domina Frevisse.

This beloved heroine is once again confronted with murders, poisonings, and other crimes near St. Frideswide’s priory. If Frevisse fails to find the guilty person, an innocent man may be condemned. Fortunately, in becoming the head of the priory, the nun has lost none of her detective instincts, and Frazer leads us skillfully to a satisfying conclusion of the plot.

I particularly enjoyed the setting of “Winter Heart,” the flavor of Benedictine hospitality as well as devout faith of the nuns, the interplay of various medieval people and personalities. Frazer speaks at the end of the book about “the pleasure of going thoroughly into otherwhen as well as otherwhere….” You’ll find plenty of both in this tale.

In this novelette we find Domina Frevisse balancing the responsibilities of Prioress with her talent for solving crime. A young man in the village is missing after being accused of rape. Things about his disappearance do not add up, and cause Domina Frevisse to delve into the mystery. As usual the plot is well thought out and well executed. You also always learn about history in Ms. Frazer’s books in an interesting and informative way. I love the interaction of Domina Frevisse with the characters we know and love from her pre-Prioress days. I wish the book was longer so that I could have enjoyed it for a longer time!

– Margaret

I remember, in my early days in St. Frideswide’s, a morning when I had to leave off my writing for the day, dress in “office clothes”, and go to stand on a corner waiting for a bus to take me to yet another temp job. The day was February at its most bleak: grim, gray, cold, and slush-ridden. Traffic roared past, and all the buses were full or, when one paused with at least standing room left, I failed to scale the dirty snowbank faster than others eager to crowd into the fusty heat beyond the hissing doors. As one bus after another came and went – with nothing to be won by actually getting on one except a day in a cubicle under merciless fluorescent lights — I thought (quite pathetically, as I recall), “I want to go back to my nunnery!”

Historical Tapestry is hosting Why I Love Life in a Medieval Nunnery today.

– Margaret

The technical difficulties we were having a couple days ago seem to have been largely resolved. Which means I’m now retroactively appearing at Karen Johnson’s Release Notes. Take my hand for a little double-layered time travel, as we go Falling Into Medieval England.

– Margaret

I’m joining Jeri Westerson, author of the Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series, and Getting Medieval. Jeri’s hosting my thoughts on the Joys of Research. If there’s anything that I enjoy in the same degree that I enjoy writing, it’s the research that goes with it…

– Margaret

We have apparently run into some scheduling problems with the blog tour today. We’re hoping to have them straightened out shortly, but in the meantime here’s something I meant to mention awhile ago, but which slipped through the cracks: Sharon Kay Penman, my dear friend and an extraordinarily talented writer, has written a very fine article on the difficulties (and rewards) of staying as true as may be to medieval mind-sets in our novels and not cheating by giving our characters modern sensibilities they could never have had. To that I can only add, “Hear! Hear!”

You might also be interested in an interview Sharon did with me back in December as a very special Christmas gift. Hopefully that can tide you over until this blog tour thing can get itself straightened out!

– Margaret

Priscilla Royal, most recently author of the medieval mystery Valley of Dry Bones, was kind enough to interview me for the LadyKillers. Venturing far beyond Winter Heart, we chatted about Joliffe and my other short stories and all manner of things. Come join us for Crafting the Historical Mystery: An Interview with Margaret Frazer.

– Margaret