Pamela Gordon Hoad

BOOKS by PAMELA GORDON HOAD

Harry Somers, a young physician and investigator, features in Pamela's series of historical detective novels set in the fifteenth century. The fifth book, the latest in the series, is now available as a paperback from Amazon.
 THE DEVIL'S STAIN
The year is 1441. Harry Somers looks back on the events which led him to imprisonment in the Tower of London, where he faces execution. He has always been seen by some as cursed because of the vivid birth - mark on his cheek but, despite this and the bullying he suffered as a child, he has become a respected physician in the household of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, uncle to King Henry VI of England.Success in solving a murder leads Harry into darker intrigues and rash entanglements until he is accused of involvement in a treasonable plot. Can he trust the great men, who have employed his services for their own purposes, to save him? Can the woman he loves forgive the pain he has caused her? Racked with guilt and self-disgust, Harry awaits the outcome.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devils-Stain-Pamela-Gordon-ebook/dp/B01C2X2Q5O
THE ANGEL'S WING
Following the events in The Devil’s Stain, Harry Somers has fled from the threat of execution in London and in 1442 is studying at the University of Padua. Fearful of what he may discover, he investigates and solves a murder but the experience proves very distressing and he decides to abandon Padua and accept a position in Verona.
He is soon asked to identify which of his colleagues betrayed his new patron’s family and this leads him into dark intrigues as long nurtured grudges, dangerous secrets and murders come to light. Who can he trust? Physical dangers, psychological pressures and a passionate love affair may lead him to the answers.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angels-Wing-Continuing-Trials-Somers-ebook/dp/B01M5CHXJQ
THE CHERUB'S SMILE
In 1444, following his return from exile and the events in The Devil's Stain and The Angel's Wing, the young physician, Harry Somers, becomes embroiled in affairs of state during negotiations for a truce between England and France during what became known later as The Hundred Years War. He is called on to investigate a murder and his discoveries lead him to suspect a plot to undermine the peace talks. Soon he finds he must juggle his own allegiances to noblemen who have become bitter rivals and he is asked to supply information to both of them, as well as to the influential head of a religious house. He is given a second commission to find a missing child, which involves him in another set of personal challenges and choices, and his burgeoning love for a woman at court complicates his life until he is propelled into a maelstrom of horrors. In the crisis which follows Harry acquires self-knowledge with which he is deeply uncomfortable and calls in question where his future will lie.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cherubs-Smile-physician-investigator-allegiances-ebook/dp/B072M1XDZF
THE MARTYR'S SCORN
The Martyr's Scorn follows on from the conclusion of The Cherub's Smile in 1450. To avoid imprisonment Harry Somers accepts the protectionof the Church and a challenging commission in Winchester. The acquaintances he encounters there lead him to investigate distasteful allegations concerning a murder and to make a choice, when he forms a judgement on a colleague's character, which has far-reaching consequences for his own future. Eventually he needs to move away from the town but when he travels to Yorkshire and Dublin old enemies menace him and the good faith of former supporters is uncertain. When he returns to London his prospects become increasingly entwined with the conflicting interests of rival noblemen and their followers, while his personal happiness is threatened by distressing inconsistencies in the relationship which becomes central to his life. He strives to fill his professional role with integrity, albeit recognising there are limitations on medical knowledge at the time, and is confronted with a range of conditions generally believed to be beyond the skill of a physican and attributable to supernatural influences. Caught up in the turbulent history of the period, he is forced to observe the downfall of a man he knows well and he becomes aware that the intriguing woman he loves may have secrets which threaten his peace of mind. Violent events bring the story to an end and set up the scene for the fifth book in the series.

THE PROPHET'S GRIEF
Following the murder of his patron, the Duke of Suffolk, in 1450, Harry Somers needs to secure his future but he soon faces added complications. His wife’s unreliable state of mind presents challenges and he becomes involved in a popular uprising, led by Jack Cade, against corruption and injustice. Rivalry between leading noblemen threatens to erupt in violence and Harry’s old enemies use the situation to intimidate him and his friends. His conflicting loyalties may be irreconcilable and he is forced to take heart-rending decisions.

THE SERAPH'S COAL

Following the events recorded in 'The Prophet's Grief', Harry Somers leaves England. In 1453 he is acting as physician with the English army sent to recover Aquitaine for the English King, Henry VI. Asked to investigate the circumstances in which an alleged French spy was killed, he uncovers a treasonable plot, makes dangerous enemies and experiences the horrors of the battlefield at Castillon and its aftermath. One of his closest friends is killed in an atrocity following the battle. Yet the greatest challenge of his professional life is still to come when he is recalled to England to assist in the treatment of the King who is stricken by a mysterious and completely debilitating mental illness. The situation encourages the virulent rivalry between leading nobles at the court and Harry incurs the animosity of opponents, old and new. Nevertheless he finds personal happiness and determines to leave the court and lead a quiet life as a physician in the City of London. He is drawn back into events at the court and, as violence escalates in his homeland, Harry is caught between loyalties. His medical duties mean he is present at the battle of St Albans and witnesses his countrymen destroying each other. His cruellest challenges are yet to come, however, and the trials in his personal life present him with the hardest choice of all and shatter his contentment. Subsequently he finds refuge serving the young Earl of Warwick in Calais but this is not an enduring sanctuary. Tricked by his enemies, he is compelled to seek a new life. He has lost much that he values but by at the end of the book (and the series of six books about Harry Somers) he has found an unexpected haven.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seraphs-Coal-Somers-greatest-challenges-ebook/dp/B08R26FHJN

DRIFTWOOD AND STONE

Sheffield in the 1860s was a place of vitality and change, a male dominated culture where there was pride in workmanship but many lived in squalor. Violence, hypocrisy and abuse were present in society and the domestic setting where most women had little independence.
'Driftwood and Stone' tells the stories of two very different young woman who seek to shape their lives in this environment. They suffer from their mistakes but both are resilient, refusing victim-hood: until fearful disaster, partly natural and partly man-made, sweeps lives and certainties away.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Driftwood-Stone-Pamela-Gordon-Hoad-ebook/dp/B09QJ5BJ33

THE STITCHED RECORD

The Stitched Record tells of events before and after the Norman Conquest from the point of view of some less well known players in the saga. The book weaves together two accounts. One follows the life of Harold Godwinson but focuses on his younger brother, Gurth, who has his own passionate tale to tell of hero-worship, debauchery, disillusion, loyalty, desire and devotion. The second account introduces the lives of women, harshly impacted by events but barely reflected in the records. Some are real but shadowy, others fictitious like Godia who recounts the story of the important people she serves. She also tells of her own life and that of her troubled daughter, Aelfgifu, who possesses strange powers which torment her and bring anguish to those she loves.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stitched-Record-Pamela-Gordon-Hoad-ebook/dp/B0BZWQCW5P

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