Historical Mystery Lovers discussion

David was born in post-war Nottingham, and educated at Nottingham High School. After obtaining a Law degree he became a career-long criminal law practitioner and academic, emigrating in 1989 to Australia, where he still lives.

Combining his two great loves of History and the English language he began writing historical novels as an escape from the realities of life in the criminal law, but did not begin to publish them until close to fulltime retirement, when digital publishing offered a viable alternative to literary agencies, print publishers and rejection slips.

Ester and Jack Enright Mysteries
The Gaslight Stalker
The Night Caller
The Prodigal Sister
The Slum Reaper
.
.
The Lost Boys

Constable Thomas Lincraft Mystery
She Died Unshriven
Without Fear or Favour
The Queen's Constables

Caryle and West Victorian Mysteries
Interviewing The Dead
Death Comes But Twice
Confronting the Invisible
Death Among the Nightingales

Bailiff Montsurrel Tudor Mystery
The Castle Abductions
The Assassination Players
The Slaughtered Widow
The Clamorous Dead: Is witchcraft or prejudice infecting Tudor England...?

David Field has many series. I only listed the historical mystery series. He has some that are pure Historical fiction. Leaving for vacation soon so I wanted to get July's author up so you can find some books. I have read The Gaslight Stalker and enjoyed it.

Thanks for picking this author. I've tried out quite a lot of historical mystery series but this is the first I've heard of David Field. Adding him to my TBR list

No works by this author appear in our state-wide (R.I.) library catalog 🙁

Nothing in my library systems but he is available with Kindle Unlimited (which I mean to drop sometime!).

Enjoy your vacation!!

I bought a paper copy of The Gaslight Stalker, but it is available on Kindle for 0.99 (US currency), or, as Sandy stated, free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

I am going to read The Castle Abductions. It's free on Kindle Unlimited. In fact, I think that whole series is free on Kindle

Unfortunately, Field published his books almost in bulk, which does not tell us when they were actually written. Maybe The Gaslight Stalker was a very early one? That would give me hope that his writing got better with the subsequent novels. So far (halfway in) I am sorry to say that I am underwhelmed.

I finished The Gaslight Stalker. I wasn't crazy about it either.

I am just starting The Night Caller book two in the series. I will report back. I read book one but don't remember much about it.

I've read the Constable Lincraft books and thought they were okay. Same for the Caryle & West series. Didn't read the Enright books. I'm now following the Bailiff Montsurrell series and finding them much better reading. Time and place is very well done.

The next one -- The Clamorous Dead: Is witchcraft or prejudice infecting Tudor England...? -- is due out August 9th.

I finished The Night Caller by David Field It was better than I expected. Book 2 in series. Set in 1891 London. Lots of discussion of early Labor Unions and especially fair treatment to working women. Mystery was okay not obvious at first. I liked our main characters.

Sandy wrote: "Nothing in my library systems but he is available with Kindle Unlimited (which I mean to drop sometime!).

Enjoy your vacation!!"

Since this sounded intriguing, I did a little research. WorldCat only has 842 listings worldwide for all titles published by Sapere Books out of Leeds, England, and surprisingly, for the most part, only the national libraries in the UK own copies. Sapere Books looks to be a fairly new press, specializing in digital publishing, with a pretty small staff. My library (Austin Public) has a few titles available via Hoopla, which generally has a lot of small and vanity press offerings.

I enjoy David Field's books. Have read most of the Enright series.

Right now, the Constable Thomas Lincraft Mystery series is on sale on Amazon:

She Died Unshriven
Without Fear or Favour
The Queen's Constables

He also has a series about the settling of Australia which has been very interesting.

Being a good girl who will not judge prematurely, I tried The Castle Abductions after not-finishing The Gaslight Stalker. While I think it is a little better, I still do not feel certain I will be able to finish it.

It's not just that the story seems to drag along although the plot would lend itself to suspense and action (with all its implausible assumptions) ... it's also that Field seems unable to get Elizabethan society with its class distinctions right.

ok, I've given this author a try. Maybe the best result is that it increases my appreciation for the really good authors of the genre.

sabagrey wrote: "Being a good girl who will not judge prematurely, I tried The Castle Abductions after not-finishing The Gaslight Stalker. While I think it is a little better, I sti..."

Thanks for trying the author of the month we can't love them all.