Inspiration and Ideas

Paul Doherty is a prolific writer of Historic Mysteries who first became immersed in the genre when he completed his Doctorate at Exeter College, Oxford.

Doherty, like many of us, had read Josephine Tey’s ‘Daughter of Time’ about the mystery of Richard III and the Princes in the Tower but, when he was studying for his thesis, he came across an equally puzzling mystery. Was Edward II really murdered at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire by his wife Isabella, or did he escape and live out his days as a hermit in Northern Italy? Doherty decided to speculate, and once his thesis was finished, became engaged in further research. ‘The Death of a King’ was published in 1986 by Robert Hale and St. Martin’s Press in the USA, and this was his first book.

His most recent is a non-fiction work, in which Doherty studies the mystery again from an empirical point of view, in ‘Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II’ (published by Constable & Robinson, UK, and Carroll and Graf in the USA).

In between these two books Doherty immersed himself in a series of historical mysteries set mainly in the mediaeval era, or the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt.

In his research into Edward II, Doherty became fascinated by the mystery surrounding many of the deaths of English Kings and Queens, for example Edward IV who died in his early 30’s, whose death was known in York the day before he died.

Doherty was also drawn by many of the real, mysterious cases found in the primary sources of mediaeval England. The most intriguing of these was the Macabre death of the goldsmith Laurence Duket who was found mysteriously hanged in the church of St. Mary le Bow during the reign of Edward I.

Doherty was equally intrigued by another baffling case namely the first great bank robbery in the history of England, when Richard Puddlicott decided to steal the Crown Jewels from Westminster Abbey in 1303. The robbery was investigated; Puddlicott was caught, hanged and skinned, his skin being nailed to the main door of the abbey. During the Puddlicott investigation Doherty came across a mediaeval clerk, John Drokensford, who was sent by the King to investigate. Doherty used Drokensford to create his own medieval detective, the formidable Hugh Corbett who specializes in tracking down assassins who threaten the king or the king’s peace.

Doherty was also fascinated by the different murder cases he came across in the court roles of London and this, in turn, led to the creation of a new mediaeval detective; the Dominican Athelstan who works in the parish of St. Erconwald’s in the most violent part of medieval London, the Borough of Southwark, just south of the Thames. Athelstan, whilst tending to his wide variety of parishioners, also has to act as secretary and clerk to Sir John Cranston, Coroner of the City.

Doherty’s nourished a deep dislike for Henry VIII whom he regards as one of history’s great killers, so he thoroughly enjoyed writing a series, under the pseudonym Michael Clynes, where a Tudor rogue, Shallot, drinking claret at the centre of his maze, dishes the dirt on fat Henry many years later.

For a time Doherty continued to write under pseudonym the most notable being Anne Dukthas in which he probed several great mysteries of history such as ‘The Lost Dauphin’ who disappeared during the French Revolution or the mysterious events surrounding the death of Mary Tudor in 1558.

Doherty also trained to be a Roman Catholic Priest, and during his studies, was introduced to the beauties of ancient Middle Eastern texts, particularly the love songs of Egypt which led him to specialize in Egyptian society and customs during the 18th Dynasty.

He recently published a book surrounding the mystery of Tutankhamun’s death but his most spectacular creation was Amoretke, Chief Justice of the Hall of Two Truths during the reign of the Queen Pharaoh Hatuso.

A classicist by training, Doherty has also continued his interest in Alexander the Great, particularly Alexander’s personal physician Philip who was present at the Great Conqueror’s death and was ranked as one of his close companions. Doherty’s series on Alexander the Great not only analyses the military genius and chameleon-like qualities of Alexander but the sea of conspiracy, bloody intrigue and violent murder which surrounded Alexander during his 12 year reign of conquest.

Doherty confesses he is a serial writer, the product of a strict Catholic classical education, Doherty now believes that the many, many years of study have borne fruit. Where possible, he likes to base his mysteries on real events; his recent Corbett mystery involved the secret writings of Roger Bacon, the Franciscan scientist who died in 1251, but who wrote ‘It is possible also that devices can be made whereby, without danger, a man may walk on the bottom of the sea.”

Doherty points out such writings at the time were regarded as witchcraft and hidden away and carefully protected. It is the Gothic quality of murder which always attracts Doherty as well as the mystery, and he has specialized in creating a series of ‘impossible murders’ developing the theme of the locked room syndrome. He believes that, like Charity, Murder is no respecter of any age, person, or status. The mind of the ancient Egyptian (or the mediaeval Englishman) was just as sophisticated in planning bloody murder as any individual in the 21st century. A prime example of this is the use of the abrin seed by the city of Venice in the Middle Ages. People accused of murder were invited to swallow the seed, if you were innocent you would suffer no ill effect but, if you were guilty, an agonizing death ensued. The solution? Guilty or not, Innocent or not, the abrin seed did not depend on the judgment of God but whether you were told to swallow it whole or chew it vigorously.

Doherty continues this fascinating pursuit of murder in different times and different cultures which he scrupulously recreates by careful research. He also provides another perception about murder which proves Freud’s famous dictum that we all kill each other in our minds only, sometimes, some of us put our thoughts into action!

Paul Doherty has also published non-fiction work focusing on great historical mysteries. The first was on “The Death of Tutankhamum”, this was followed by scholarly studies on the fate of Edward II in 1327 and the death of Alexander the Great at Babylon in 323 BC. He thoroughly enjoyed writing these non-fiction, in particular his last one, “The Great Crown Jewel Robbery of 1303”- due out in Autumn 2005.

This concerns the first, most successful attempt to steal the Crown Jewels from the cavernous crypt of Westminster Abbey. A fascinating tale of corruption, blackmail, sexual impropriety and violence, the cast of this audacious attempt include adventures, felons, corrupt officials, lecherous monks and greedy goldsmiths, all set against the vivid panorama of England during the High Middle Ages.

 

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