When several very valuable books are stolen from his former mentor, surgeon, investigator and confirmed bachelor Hugh de Singleton is called in to find them. But as he gets closer and closer to the truth (and to Kate, his greatest temptation), mysterious “accidents” start happening with increasing regularity. Can Hugh solve the mystery, get the girl AND keep himself alive in the medieval town of Bampton?
WHAT LED YOU TO WRITE A TRAIL OF INK?
I wanted to write a mystery which would deal with theft rather than murder, and as books were valuable, Oxford was near Bampton, and I had already introduced John Wyclif in my first book, stolen books seemed a likely plot.
STARTING OUT, WHO WERE THE AUTHORS WHO INSPIRED YOU? WHO INSPIRES YOU NOW?
Authors who I admire include C. S. Lewis, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Paul Maier, Ellis Peters, Davis Bunn, P. D. James, and Elizabeth George.
HOW DOES YOUR FAITH INFLUENCE YOUR WRITING?
I want my fiction to be honest to time and place. I don’t think fiction writers should lie about people or eras just to create a sale-able plot: think Dan Brown here.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN YOU WANTED TO BE AN AUTHOR?
Probably since I learned how to read. Really, I believe that all who enjoy reading secretly (or not so secretly) wish to try setting pen to paper—which, by the way, is how I write. No computer for me.
WHAT DO YOU MOST HOPE THAT READERS GET FROM READING YOUR WORK?
I hope they will learn something of life in 14th century England, the challenges and triumphs of people of that time, and will be able to escape to that world for a few enjoyable hours. Escaping for a few hours is all most modern people would want to do; we would not want to live there and then, I think.