DOHERTY, P(aul) C. 1946- (Anna Apostolou, Michael Clynes, Ann Dukthas, C. L. Grace, Paul Harding)

PERSONAL: Born September 21, 1946, in Middles-borough, England; son of Michael and Catherine (Clynes) Doherty; married Carla L. Corbett, April 6, 1973; children: Hugh, Nigel, Vanessa, Alexandra, Michael, Mark, Paul. Ethnicity: British. Education: Attended Liverpool University, 1968-71; Exeter College, Oxford, B.A. (first class honors), D.Phil., Ph.D., 1977. Religion: Roman Catholic. Hobbies and other interests: Writing, local history.

ADDRESSES: Home—Trinity, 14 Mornington Rd., Woodford Green, Essex IG8 0TP, England.

CAREER: School headmaster in England, 1981—; writer, 1985—.

MEMBER: Royal College of Arts (fellow), National Association of Headteachers, Royal Overseas Club, London Library, Pall Mall (London).

AWARDS, HONORS: Herodotus Award, Historical Mystery Appreciation Society, 1999, for lifetime achievement.

WRITINGS:

"hugh corbett" novels

Satan in St. Mary's, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1987.

The Crown in Darkness, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1988.

Spy in Chancery, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1988.

The Angel of Death, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1990.

The Prince of Darkness, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1993.

The Assassin in the Greenwood, Headline (London, England), 1993, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1994.

Murder Wears a Cowl, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1994.

The Song of a Dark Angel, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1995.

Satan's Fire, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1996.

The Devil's Hunt, Headline (London, England), 1996, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1998.

The Treason of the Ghosts, Headline (London, England), 2000.

The Demon Archer, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2001.

Corpse Candle, Headline (London, England), 2001, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2002.

"canterbury tales/nicholas chirke" novels

An Ancient Evil, Being the Knight's Tale, Headline (London, England), 1994, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1995.

A Tapestry of Murders, Being the Man of Law's Tale, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1996.

A Tournament of Murders, Being the Franklin's Tale, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1997.

Ghostly Murders, Being the Priest's Tale, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1998.

A Haunt of Murder, Headline (London, England), 2003.

"brother athelstan" novels

(Under pseudonym Paul Harding) The Nightingale Gallery, Headline (London, England), 1991, Morrow (New York, NY), 1992.

(Under pseudonym Paul Harding) The House of the Red Slayer, Headline (London, England), 1992, published as Red Slayer, Morrow (New York, NY), 1994.

(Under pseudonym Paul Harding) Murder Most Holy, Headline (London, England), 1993.

(Under pseudonym Paul Harding) Anger of God, Headline (London, England), 1993.

(Under pseudonym Paul Harding) By Murder's Bright Light, Headline (London, England), 1994.

(Under pseudonym Paul Harding) House of Crows, Headline (London, England), 1995.

(Under pseudonym Paul Harding) Assassin's Riddle, Headline (London, England), 1996.

The Devil's Domain, Headline (London, England), 1998.

The Field of Blood, Headline (London, England), 1999.

"egyptian" novels

The Mask of Ra, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1999.

The Horus Killing, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2000.

The Anubis Slayings, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2001.

The Slayers of Seth, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2002.

under pseudonym michael clynes; "sir roger shal lot" novels

The White Rose Murders, Headline (London, England), 1991, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1993.

The Poisoned Chalice, Headline (London, England), 1992, O. Penzler (New York, NY), 1994.

The Grail Murders, O. Penzler (New York, NY), 1993.

A Brood of Vipers, Headline (London, England), 1994, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1996.

The Gallows Murders, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1996.

The Relic Murders, Headline (London, England), 1997.

under pseudonym ann dukthas; "nicholas segalla" novels

A Time for the Death of a King, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1994.

The Prince Lost to Time, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1995.

The Time of Murder at Mayerling, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1996.

In the Time of the Poisoned Queen, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1998.

under pseudonym c. l. grace; "kathryn swinbrooke" novels

A Shrine of Murders, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1993.

The Eye of God, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1994.

The Merchant of Death, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1995.

The Book of Shadows, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1996.

Saintly Murders, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2001.

A Maze of Murders, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2003.

"alexander of macedon" novels

The House of Death, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2001.

The Godless Man, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2002.

The Gates of Hell, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2003.

other

The Death of a King, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1985.

The Masked Man, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1991.

King Arthur (juvenile biography), Chelsea House (New York, NY), 1987.

The Whyte Harte, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1988.

The Fate of Princes, Hale (London, England), 1990, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1991.

The Serpent among the Lilies, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1990.

The Rose Demon, Headline (London, England), 1997.

(Under pseudonym Anna Apostolou) Murder in Macedon, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1997.

(Under pseudonym Anna Apostolou) A Murder in Thebes, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1998.

The Haunting, Headline (London, England), 1998.

The Soul Slayer, Headline (London, England), 1998.

Isabella and Edward (nonfiction), Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2002.

The Mysterious Death of Tutankhamun (nonfiction), Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2002.

ADAPTATIONS: Many of Doherty's novels are available as sound recordings. The film rights to the "Canterbury Tales" series have been optioned.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A novel on Pharaoh Akhenaten.

SIDELIGHTS: Prolific mystery writer P. C. Doherty began his authorial career as a historian, focusing on the early years of the English monarchy. His Ph.D. dissertation, about the time of Edward II and Queen Isabella, launched him into a series of over forty-seven historical novels, many set in England, but some set in Scotland, Austria, France, Egypt, and Greece. Doherty has used a variety of pseudonyms and has created a cast of recurring characters that account for several different series of mysteries, each distinguished by a strong sense of place and time.

Doherty's first novel, The Death of a King, explores political intrigue in the reigns of Edward II and III through the eyes of Edward III's clerk, Edmund Beche. Beche has been commissioned to investigate the murder of Edward II, under the guise of researching a history of the king, and the adultery and sinister plots he uncovers place him in mortal danger. Readers of The Death of a King considered Doherty's debut a ringing success. A Publishers Weekly reviewer called the book "nothing less than a tour de force," remarking on the thorough research and beautiful writing. In addition, as Connie Fletcher observed in Booklist, Doherty suggests a "convincing solution" to the real-life mystery of the death of Edward II.

Doherty has taken on other historical intrigues in later novels. The Whyte Harte follows narrator Matthew Jankyn through his deceit and betrayals in support of Richard II, who has been replaced by Henry the Fourth. The novel The Fate of Princes attempts to offer another interpretation of the mystery of the young children of King Edward IV, often supposed to be executed by command of Richard III. Doherty has also explored French history, first in the novel Serpent amongst the Lilies, which has Jankyn investigating the phenomenon of Joan of Arc, and in the novel The Masked Man, about the identity of the Bastille's famous Man in the Iron Mask. In some instances critics found the works a bit too historically driven—the Chicago Tribune Books's Kevin Moore said that the climax of Serpent amongst the Lilies "is revealed with all the panache of a master's thesis in Middle French." Often, however, critics appreciated the atmosphere and accuracy of Doherty's historical mysteries. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly called The Whyte Harte "riveting" and "vivid," and Booklist contributor Margaret Flanagan said The Masked Man iss a "tautly woven thriller" and another "tour de force" for Doherty.

One of Doherty's most successful literary creations has been Hugh Corbett, a clerk to Edward I and Keeper of the Secret Seal. Corbett first appears in Satan in St. Mary's, charged with investigating an apparent suicide thought to be a murder; his investigation eventually encounters a Satanist cult and the threat of treason. In further volumes in the series, Corbett goes to Scotland to investigate the death of Scots King Alexander III (The Crown in Darkness), to France to discover an informant for Philip IV (Spy in Chancery), and all over England to solve murders in a nunnery (The Prince of Darkness), the bog lands of Norfolk (The Song of a Dark Angel), and in Oxford (The Devil's Hunt). Corbett's faithful sidekick, and the novels' comic relief, is the former felon Ranfulf-atte-Newgate; later novels also include Corbett's wife, Maeve. The plotting of the novels is complex, sometimes too complex, according to some reviewers. A Kirkus Reviews critic said of The Devil's Hunt that the Hugh Corbett series "grows denser and more convoluted with every episode." But a Publishers Weekly writer said of the same novel that although the plot develops slowly, readers' "attention to the complex plot will be amply rewarded." Reviewing the next Corbett novel, The Demon Archer, another Publishers Weekly writer began by calling the book "another masterful English medieval tale" from "the prolific Doherty."

Other detective series created by Doherty include the mysteries of Brother Athelstan, a Dominican friar and a secretary to the king's coroner; the journals of Sir Roger Shallot, investigator for Cardinal Wolsey and King Henry VII (written as Michael Clynes); the Nicholas Segalla series, about a time-traveler who appears throughout Europe in the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries (written as Ann Dukthas); and the tales of Kathryn Swinbrokke, a fifteenth-century Canterbury physician (written as C. L. Grace). In 1994, Doherty also launched a series of mysteries based on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, beginning with An Ancient Evil: Being the Knight's Tale. Chaucer's tales are told by day, but Doherty's tales are told by night, the ideal setting for the grim and often ghostly stories of murder, treason, and the supernatural. The knight volunteers to tell the group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury a story about a murder in Oxford involving devil-worshipper and a female exorcist. Unlike Doherty's other series, the framework of the Canterbury series allows the other pilgrims to comment on the story as it develops, a technique that School Library Journal contributor Judy Sokoll said created "good balance, pace, and momentum." Later books in the series feature the Man of Laws (A Tapestry of Murders), the Franklin (A Tournament of Murders), the Priest (Ghostly Murders), and the clerk of Oxford (A Haunt of Murder).

In the late 1990s, Doherty branched out beyond England and western Europe. As Anna Apostolou, he wrote A Murder in Macedonia and A Murder in Thebes, focusing on the historical characters of Phillip II and his son Alexander the Great. He has since begun another series, under his own name, focusing solely on the world of Alexander. In 1999, Doherty introduced a series of books set in ancient Egypt, starting with The Mask of Ra. Margaret Flanagan, reviewing the novel for Booklist, noted the author's "meticulous" attention to historical details and called the book an "intelligently crafted thriller." The mystery of The Mask of Ra, the unexpected death of the Pharaoh Tuthmosis II, is solved by chief judge Amerotke, who reappears in The Horus Killing in the court of Tuthmosis II's widow, Hatshepsut. The queen is trying to become the pharaoh, but the priests who support her are slain in succession, and Amerotke is again charged with the task of solving the crime. As in The Mask of Ra, Doherty's strength in this historical mystery is in the marriage of "rich period detail and vivid storytelling," according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Hatshepsut and Amerotke are revived again in The Anubis Slayings, as a string of murders threaten the peace that Hatusu (the short form of Hatshepsut) has brought to Egypt. Reviewing the book for the BookBrowser Web site, Harriet Klausner wrote that Doherty made "the glory of Ancient Egypt come alive again." The critic concluded: "P. C. Doherty is a wonderful storyteller whose historical mysteries include the awesome Anubis series and crafty Corbett medieval tales, among others, [that] are all worth reading."

Doherty told CA: "I enjoy both fictional crime and historical mysteries-yet-to-be-resolved. I am currently working on the murder of Amy Robsart in 1560—it's great to realise you may have unmasked an assassin after more than 440 years!"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Armchair Detective, winter, 1987, Rosemary Swan, review of The Death of a King, pp. 83-84; spring, 1996, Rick Mattos, review of Song of a Dark Angel, p. 234; summer, 1996, Peter Kenny, review of A Tapestry of Murders, p. 371.

Booklist, December 15, 1985, Connie Fletcher, review of The Death of a King, p. 608; December 1, 1988, Margaret Flanagan, review of The Whyte Harte, p. 617; April 1, 1989, Ray Olson, review of Spy in Chancery, p. 1348; December 15, 1991, Flanagan, review of The Masked Man, p. 752; January 1, 1993, Flanagan, review of The Prince of Darkness, p. 793; April 1, 1996, Flanagan, review of A Tapestry of Murders, p. 1345; November 15, 1996, Flanagan, review of Satan's Fire, p. 574; September 1, 1997, Flanagan, review of A Tournament of Murders, p. 63; March 15, 1998, Flanagan, review of The Devil's Hunt, p. 1204; April 15, 1999, Flanagan, review of The Mask of Ra, p. 1471; February 15, 2000, Barbara Bibel, review of The Horus Killing, p. 1087.

Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 1985, review of The Death of a King, pp. 1204-1205; February 15, 1987, review of Satan in St. Mary's, p. 258; April 15, 1988, review of The Crown in Darkness, p. 574; November 1, 1988, review of The Whyte Harte, p. 1566; April 1, 1989, review of Spy in Chancery, p. 503; February 15, 1990, review of The Angel of Death, p. 223; August 15, 1990, review of Serpent amongst the Lilies, p. 1131; February 15, 1991, review of The Fate of Princes, p. 214; October 1, 1991, review of The Masked Man, p. 1248; November 15, 1992, review of The Prince of Darkness, p. 1407; January 1, 1994, review of Murder Wears a Cowl, p. 20; July 15, 1995, review of The Song of a Dark Angel, pp. 985-86; February 1, 1996, review of A Tapestry of Murders, p. 175; October 1, 1996, review of Satan's Fire, p. 1427; September 1, 1997, review of A Tournament of Murders, pp. 1340-41; January 15, 1998, review of The Devil's Hunt, p. 83; August 1, 1998, review of Ghostly Murders, p. 1070; April 1, 1999, review of The Mask of Ra, p. 488; January 15, 2000, review of The Horus Killings, p. 89.

Library Journal, April 1, 1987, JoAnn Vicarel, review of Satan in St. Mary's, pp. 166, 168; January, 1989, Rex E. Klett, review of The Whyte Harte, p. 104; April 1, 1990, Klett, review of The Angel of Death, p. 140; November 1, 1991, Klett, review of The Masked Man, p. 135; August, 1997, Klett, review of A Tournament of Murders, p. 140; February 1, 1998, Klett, review of The Devil's Hunt, p. 115; May 1, 1999, Klett, review of The Mask of Ra, p. 11; March 1, 2000, Klett, review of The Horus Killings, p. 128.

New York Times Book Review, April 7, 1991, Marilyn Stasio, review of The Fate of Princes, p. 33.

Publishers Weekly, November 15, 1985, review of The Death of a King, p. 48; February 20, 1987, review of Satan in St. Mary's, p. 74; May 13, 1988, review of The Crown in Darkness, p. 267; October 28, 1988, review of The Whyte Harte, p. 64; March 17, 1989, review of Spy in Chancery, pp. 81-82; February 16, 1990, review of The Angel of Death, p. 70; January 25, 1991, review of The Fate of Princes, p. 48; October 4, 1991, review of The Masked Man, p. 82; November 16, 1992, review of The Prince of Darkness, p. 49; February 14, 1994, review of Murder Wears a Cowl, p. 82; August 8, 1994, review of The Assassin in the Greenwood, p. 392; March 6, 1995, review of An Ancient Evil, p. 63; January 29, 1996, review of A Tapestry of Murder, pp. 87-88; July 21, 1997, review of A Tournament of Murders, p. 188; December 22, 1997, review of The Devil's Hunt, p. 41; April 12, 1999, review of The Mask of Ra, p. 58; February 28, 2000, review of The Horus Killings, p. 66; January 22, 2001, review of The Demon Archer, p. 305.

Quill and Quire, October, 1996, Michael McGowan, review of The Devil's Hunt, p. 30.

School Library Journal, September, 1994, Mary T. Gerrity, review of Murder Wears a Cowl, p. 255; September, 1995, Judy Sokoll, review of An Ancient Evil, p. 232.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), October 14, 1990, Kevin Moore, "A Cajun Beat and Brit Cool Set the Mood," p. 6.

online

BookBrowser,http://www.bookbrowser.com/ (April 30, 2001), Harriet Klausner, review of The Anubis Slayings.

Crime Time Web site,http://www.crimetime.co.uk/ (August 6, 2001), review of The Haunting.

Mystery Guide,http://www.mysteryguide.com/ (August 22, 2001), review of The Death of a King.

Scenes of Crime,http://www.fortunecity.co.uk/ (August 22, 2001), Daniel M. Staines, "The Novels of P. C. Doherty."

Stop, You're Killing Me Web site, http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/ (August 22, 2001).