A Very Persistent Illusion

Inventor of the Sorensen-Birtwistle Revised Scale of Girl-Rage, Chris has a beautiful girlfriend (Virginia), two likeable potential parents-in-law (Hugh and Daphne) and a classic sports car with a leather-covered gear stick. Impending matrimony and the car’s leaking roof seem to be the only clouds on the horizon.But his apparently comfortable world is turned upside down when Hugh dies suddenly and Daphne (after one Irish Cream too many) reveals some shocking information.Meanwhile...In an inn, in the Danube Valley, in the seventeenth century, a certain cantankerous philosopher seems to have some words of guidance for our modern-day hero. We join Virginia and Chris (and René) as they seek to uncover the truth about Hugh, themselves and the meaning of life. A Very Persistent Illusion is a hilarious, hugely inventive and thought-provoking novel about love, madness and reality.‘Compelling and clever, I really couldn’t put it down. A deceptively light read. I laughed out loud’ - Alison Joseph, author of the Sister Agnes Mysteries

L.C. Tyler

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Macmillan

When literary agent Elsie Thirkettle is invited to accompany tall but obscure crime-writer Ethelred Tressider to dinner at Muntham Court, she is looking forward to sneering at his posh friends. What she is not expecting is that, half way through the evening, her host will be found strangled in his locked study. Since there is no way that a murderer could have escaped, the police conclude that Sir Robert Muntham has killed himself. A distraught Lady Muntham, however, asks Ethelred to conduct his own investigation. Ethelred (ably hindered by Elsie) sets out to resolve a classic 'locked room' mystery; but is any one of the assorted guests and witnesses actually telling the truth? And can Ethelred's account be trusted? In the process, we meet one of Ethelred's own creations, the fourteenth-century detective Master Thomas, who is helped in his investigations of a mediaeval crime at Muntham Court by a small and rather pushy Abbess with a taste for honey cakes ...Is it possible that Master Thomas can shed some light on the twenty-first century case, and on Ethelred's own motives for investigating Sir Robert's death? "The Herring in the Library" is another ingenious outing for crime fiction's most mismatched double-act. "Tyler juggles characters, story, wit and clever one-liners with perfect balance". ("The Times").

The Herring in the Library - 1st Edition/1st Impression

Mystery

Inventor of the Sorensen-Birtwistle Revised Scale of Girl-Rage, Chris has a beautiful girlfriend (Virginia), two likeable potential parents-in-law (Hugh and Daphne) and a classic sports car with a leather-covered gear stick. Impending matrimony and the car's leaking roof seem to be the only clouds on the horizon. But his apparently comfortable world is turned upside down when Hugh dies suddenly and Daphne (after one Irish Cream too many) reveals some shocking information. Meanwhile ...In an inn, in the Danube Valley, in the seventeenth century, a certain cantankerous philosopher seems to have some words of guidance for our modern-day hero. We join Virginia and Chris (and Rene) as they seek to uncover the truth about Hugh, themselves and the meaning of life. "A Very Persistent Illusion" is a hilarious, hugely inventive and thought-provoking novel about love, madness and reality. 'Compelling and clever, I really couldn't put it down. A deceptively light read. I laughed out loud' - Alison Joseph, author of the "Sister Agnes Mysteries".

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Pan/Macmillan

Elsie and Ethelred return . . . When literary agent Elsie Thirkettle is invited to accompany tall but obscure crime-writer Ethelred Tressider to dinner at Muntham Court, she is looking forward to sneering at his posh friends. What she is not expecting is that, half way through the evening, her host will be found strangled in his locked study. Since there is no way that a murderer could have escaped, the police conclude that Sir Robert Muntham has killed himself. A distraught Lady Muntham, however, asks Ethelred to conduct his own investigation. Ethelred (ably hindered by Elsie) sets out to resolve a classic 'locked room' mystery; but is any one of the assorted guests and witnesses actually telling the truth? And can Ethelred's account be trusted? In the process, we meet one of Ethelred's own creations, the fourteenth-century detective Master Thomas, who is helped in his investigations of a mediaeval crime at Muntham Court by a small and rather pushy Abbess with a taste for honey cakes . . . Is it possible that Master Thomas can shed some light on the twenty-first century case, and on Ethelred's own motives for investigating Sir Robert's death? The Herring in the Library is another ingenious outing for crime fiction's most mismatched double-act. 'Tyler juggles characters, story, wit and clever one-liners with perfect balance' THE TIMES

Herring in the Library

Felony & Mayhem Press

A Well-earned Death (paperback)

Little, Brown Book Group, London

The theaters are padlocked. Christmas has been canceled. It is 1657 and the unloved English Republic is eight years old. Though Cromwell’s joyless grip on power appears immovable, many still look to Charles Stuart’s dissolute and threadbare court-in-exile, and some are prepared to risk their lives plotting a restoration. For the officers of the Republic, constant vigilance is needed. So, when the bloody corpse of a Royalist spy is discovered on the dung heap of a small Essex village, why is the local magistrate so reluctant to investigate? John Grey, a young lawyer with no clients, finds himself alone in believing that the murdered man deserves justice. Grey is drawn into a vortex of plot and counter-plot and into the all-encompassing web of intrigue spun by Cromwell’s own spy-master, John Thurloe. So when nothing is what is seems, can Grey trust anyone?

A Cruel Necessity (John Grey Historical Mystery)

Little, Brown Book Group

Review\nAn exciting, well-plotted and brilliantly witty historical mystery―For Winter Nights\nTyler juggles his characters, story wit and clever one liners with perfect balance―The Times\nTyler is a witty writer, and this third outing for Grey is great fun―Sunday Times\nStirring stuff, with lively repartee, from a master of the genre―Irish Independent\nL.C. Tyler [sets] sharply observed period detail against a witty, vividly characterised version of life in the 17th century―Independent\nCracking!―Evening Telegraph\n'Witty and amazing, L. C. Tyler has a wicked sense of humour' M. C. Beaton\n1665, and the Great Plague has London in its grip. Where better, then, to hide a murdered man than among the corpses on their way to the Plague pit? 
When a supposed Plague victim is found with a knife in his back, John Grey, now a successful lawyer, is called in to investigate. The dead man was known to be carrying a compromising letter from the Duke of York to the French ambassador. Now the letter has vanished and Secretary of State Lord Arlington wants it. 
But Arlington is not the only one trying to recover the letter. Somebody has killed once trying to obtain it - and is prepared to kill again. Grey must set off on a journey through Plague-ravaged England to fulfil his commission and keep himself safe from his enemies - if the Plague doesn't get him first... 
Praise for L.C. Tyler 
'Tyler juggles his characters, story wit and clever one liners with perfect balance' The Times\n'A historical thriller, but one written with tongue firmly in cheek . . . Tyler is a witty writer, and this third outing for Grey is great fun' - Sunday Times 
'An exciting, well-plotted and brilliantly witty historical mystery' For Winter Nights

Plague Road

Constable

Death of a Shipbuilder (A John Grey Historical Mystery, Band 6)

Too Much of Water (A John Grey Historical Mystery, Band 7)

Thrillers & Suspense

Im Tweedkostüm auf Mörderjagd

Goldmann Wilhelm,München

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Books by L.C. Tyler