The Foxes of Warwick Volume XI of the Domesday Books

London: Headline, 1999. First edition, 1999. Signed by the author to the title page. Hardback. 274pp. Dust jacket in a protective sleeve. Henry Beaumont, constable of Warwick castle, keeps a renowned pack of fox hounds: quick, brave and ruthless at the kill, just like their master. Yet one December hunt turns up a very different fox, when, to the horror of the riders, the dogs uncover a corpse in the woodlands - the crushed body of Martin Reynard, reeve of the neighbouring estate of the old Saxon thane, Thorkell, and a former member of Beaumont's own household. Enraged, Henry swears to find the killer. By chance, justice is already on the way in the form of Domesday Commissioners Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret, sent to adjudicate land disputes in the Warwick area. To their minds, the man Henry has arrested seems an unlikely villain. Boio, Thorkell's blacksmith, is bear-like but gentle and kind. With no evidence how can Henry be so adamant about Boio's guilt? With Beaumont braying for blood, Ralph and Gervase have little time to save Boio's neck. Book in very good condition. Some toning to paper but otherwise a very good copy. Dust jacket near fine. Unclipped. Very minor edge wear only.