Martinmas : 1588: A Calendar of Crime Series, Book 4

Martinmas is the fourth instalment of 1588: A Calendar of Crime, a collection of short stories published in step with the sixteenth century calendar. In St Salvator's college at the start of the academic year a young student claims that he has seen the ghost of a Spanish soldier. Giles and Hew dismiss this as the fevered product of a wild imagination; the students are unsettled by a spate of violent storms, and fears of the apocalypse readily resurge. In the close confines of college, they can be contained. But when a merchant dies, on the feast of St Martin known as 'killing time', with the words 'dead Spaniard' the last upon his lips, the terror of the students spills out to the streets, and Hew is called upon to rid the town of ghosts. A novel in five books featuring:A grisly murderA vanishing corpseA secret romanceA ghostly tale for HalloweenAn innocent accused 1588. It is a dark and turbulent time. Scotland's queen has been executed, the Spanish king seeks revenge, and the people of St Andrews cling desperately to the rhythm of the old ways. The ancient burgh is renowned throughout Europe as a seat of Church and learning but it is also a town full of suspicion, conspiracy and murder. Shirley McKay sets her intriguing and sometimes comic tale around the key points in the calendar: the four quarter days of Candlemas, Whitsun, Lammas, Martinmas and the feast day of Yule. When the first victim is discovered on Candlemas Eve, Hew Cullan, scholar and lawyer, is called upon to investigate; the dark side of the sixteenth century comes alive in a rich tapestry infused with the textures of history and folklore, woven by a master crime writer The fourth short story in the 1588: A Calendar of Crime collection