Gil Cunningham Series by Pat McIntosh
Gil Cunningham #1
The Harper's Quine
Pat McIntosh
“McIntosh's characterizations and period detail are first rate and bode well for future entries in this series.”—Publishers Weekly “The next Cunningham adventure is to be welcomed.”—Historical Novels Review Novice lawyer Gil Cunningham finds his true vocation not as a priest but as an investigator. This meticulously researched historical mystery is the debut of a medieval Scottish investigator. Gil Cunningham is a recently qualified lawyer whose family expects him to enter the priesthood. At the May Day dancing at Glasgow Cross, Gil notices an attractive woman who is subsequently murdered. When he finds the body of the woman in the new building under construction at Glasgow Cathedral, he is asked to investigate. The corpse was the runaway wife of cruel, unpleasant nobleman John Semphill. She had left him to live with a blind harper whom she bore an infant son. With the help of Maistre Pierre, the French master mason whose lovely daughter has captured his heart, Gil identifies a callous multiple murderer that no one would have suspected. Born and brought up in Lanarkshire, Pat McIntosh lived and worked in Glasgow for many years before settling on the West Coast. The Harper’s Quine is the first in the Gil Cunningham medieval mystery series.From Publishers WeeklyLovers of quality historicals will welcome McIntosh's debut, a convincing whodunit set in 15th-century Glasgow. Lawyer Gilbert Cunningham, a progressive and empathic young man, is letting entropy propel him toward a life in the priesthood. His natural intelligence, curiosity and logic serve him in good stead when he stumbles across the corpse of a young woman on the grounds of a cathedral. The victim proves to be the estranged wife of a nobleman who had left him for a harper. Assisted by the forward and independent daughter of a local mason, Cunningham carefully examines forensic clues as well as the mysteries of the human heart to uncover the twisted soul responsible for a number of deaths. Impressively, the author manages to avoid false or anachronistic notes in depicting Scottish life in 1492. While some historical references will be obscure to an American audience, they don't detract from a clever plot, littered with fair clues to the puzzles. The rough justice that befalls the villain is a little contrived, but there's every reason for the legions of fans of the late Ellis Peters to anticipate the next Cunningham mystery. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review"'McIntosh's characterisations and period detail are first rate and bode well for future entries in this series.' Publishers Weekly 'The next Cunningham adventure is to be welcomed.' Historical Novels Review"
Read online
Gil Cunningham #3
Cunningham 03 - The Merchant's Mark
Pat McIntosh
Praise for the Gil Cunningham series: “Another hearty meal stuffed with fascinating period tidbits and a satisfying mystery.”—Kirkus Reviews “McIntosh artfully interweaves intrigue and history in this suspenseful medieval mystery tale.”—Booklist The third mystery in the Gil Cunningham medieval Scottish series. Gil Cunningham’s friend Augie Morison is a merchant. When he opens a barrel sent from the Low Countries that is supposed to contain books, he finds a decapitated head—and a treasure. There is an inquest the next day before the Provost at which Morison is accused of the crime and imprisoned. He implores Gil to help him. The trail of the treasure and of the barrel containing it, which they attempt to follow in order to identify the dead man—and his murderer—leads Gil and his betrothed’s father, a French Master Mason, from the royal court of King James at Stirling, to a cooper’s yard in Linlithgow, and then to another corpse, found intact, lying on the bare slopes of the Pentland hills.
Read online
Gil Cunningham #4
Cunningham 04 - St Mungo's Robin
Pat McIntosh
The warden of St Serf's has been found dead in the almshouse garden. He appears to have been killed on the previous night but there are those who are convinced he was present at that morning's service, The elderly residents, the almshouse nurse and Humphrey, her deranged favourite, have all been set against one another by the dead man's scheming - and then there is the discarded mistress and almshouse ghost to consider. Tracing the dead man's last movements between the Cathedral precinct and the shores of the Clyde, Gil Cunningham is both helped and hindered by his two sisters who have come to Glasgow for his wedding to Alys. An uncanny event followed by the arrival of Gil's godfather, precipitates the crisis. Finally, it is Alys who helps Gil identify the warden's killer. PRAISE FOR PAT MCINTOSH 'McInotosh's characterisations and period detail are first rate and bode well for future entries in this series.' Publishers Weekly 'The next Cunningham adventure is to be welcomed.' Historical Novels ReviewReview"* 'McInotosh's characterisations and period detail are first rate and bode well for future entries in this series.' Publishers Weekly * 'The next Cunningham adventure is to be welcomed.' Historical Novels Review" About the AuthorLike her protaganist Gil Cunnigham, Pat MacInstosh is a graduate of Glasgow University, She lived and worked in Glasgow before settling on Scotland's West Coast.
Read online
Gil Cunningham #5
Cunningham 05 - Rough Collier
Pat McIntosh
Praise for Pat McIntosh: “McIntosh’s characterizations and period details are first rate and bode well for future entries in this series.”—Publishers Weekly “McIntosh provides an intelligent, authentic, and suspenseful historical whodunit that will please the most demanding of Ellis Peters’ fans.”—Booklist Gil Cunningham, a young notary, has escaped a life in the Church to become the archbishop’s questioner, only to be accused of causing a man’s death by witchcraft. Gil and his young wife must solve the mystery to save him. Pat McIntosh was born and brought up in Lanarkshire, Scotland. She worked in Glasgow before settling on Scotland’s west coast.
Read online
Gil Cunningham #8
Cunningham 08 - The Counterfeit Madam
Pat McIntosh
Gil Cunningham had hoped that the first time he set foot in the brothel on the Drygate it would also be his last, but by the time all was settled he felt quite at home within its artfully painted chambers. The bawdy house, along with the neighbouring property and two more in Strathblane, are all part of a deal offered to Gil and his wife Alys by the forceful Dame Isabella. Her proposal also involves Gil’s young ward, and matters are further confused by an outbreak of counterfeit coins in Glasgow, which Gil has been ordered to investigate. Then Dame Isabella is found dead in strange circumstances, and the more Gil pursues the cause of her death, the more false coins he finds. And then the bawd-mistress, the enigmatic Madam Xanthe, gets involved and rumours circulate that the Devil is abroad in Strathblane. By the time Gil and Alys have untangled matters, some very surprising – and sinister – thing have come to light…Review"Suspenseful . . . McIntosh deftly balances plot and period detail."--"Publishers Weekly ""Gil's adventures ("A Pig of Cold Poison", 2008, etc.) continue to provide satisfying, albeit convoluted, mysteries larded with historical detail."--"Kirkus Reviews""A good pick for fans of the series and the genre."--"Library Journal""Will do for Glasgow in the fifteenth century what Ellis Peters did and her Brother Cadfael did for Shrewsbury in the twelfth."--"Mystery Readers Journal" About the AuthorBorn and brought up in Lanarkshire, Pat McIntosh lived and worked in Glasgow before settling on Scotland's west coast, where she lives with her husband and three cats.
Read online
Gil Cunningham #10
The King's Corrodian
Pat McIntosh
'The tale seems very improbable,' Gil Cunningham said. 'How should the Devil enter a religious house and carry off one of its members?'How indeed? But Arnold Fleming, the widely dislike pensioner, or corrodian, lodged in the Dominican's house in Perth, has vanished from a chamber, and a local knight and his mistress claim to have seen the Devil abroad that very same night. Three of the friars are accused by their fellows of involvement, documents found in Fleming's lodgings suggest he was blackmailing somebody, and when Gil is called in to investigate, he reveals theft, ancient murder - and more recent secrets.Then a body turns up - then a second one. Are these deaths connected to Fleming's disappearance, or to the victim of his blackmailing activities? Gil's questioning uncovers some of the truth, but it is Alys who discovers the answer, with the help of the Dominicans' redoubtable lay-brothers and the priory kitchens.Praise for Pat Macintosh:'Will do for Glasgow in the fifteenth...
Read online