Some people say that sitting down with a blank sheet of paper is terrifying when they are about to embark on a new novel well, after thirty-two titles in a series in which I knew the landscape, history, people, legal issues, and already had a bank of seven or more different potential murders, I was happy to write more in that line. There are no rules, no existing plot-lines and characters – not even the outline of a landscape. I knew she liked blood and stabbing weapons.īecause starting out with a new concept is always tough. ‘I thought you might have some ideas,’ she said, looking at me hopefully. Until then I had been a cheerful writer of crime thrillers which happened to be set in the far-distant past – during the reign of King Edward II and his deplorable friend Sir Hugh le Despenser (and if all you know about those two was that Edward died in a particularly nasty manner in Berkley Castle, and that they were gay, then you need to read my books and prepare for a minor revisionist shock).īut no, my new editor wanted me to stop writing my Templar series, which had reached thirty-two titles at that stage, and consider a violent war series. It was a surprise four years ago when my new editor at Simon and Schuster suggested I should consider a change of direction. Can the English defeat the much larger French army, or will they find themselves finally overcome when their weary feet bring them at last to the field of battle near Poitiers…

And then his path crosses that of Prince Edward and his men as they embark on their latest chevauchée to bring death and disaster to the King of France’s subjects.Įnlisted as Vintener under Sir John de Sully, Berenger finds himself drawn into a new struggle. Meanwhile the Prince of Wales raids across France to draw King John into a battle for sovereignty.īerenger Fripper, having lost everything to the plague, is now captain of a company of mercenaries, but treachery and deceit dog him when his travels with the company lead him to Uzerche. In it, Michael looks at the origins of the trilogy, its historical inspiration and its growth into a series that is now complete.įirst, a little of what Blood of the Innocents is aboutįrance, 1356: Ten years have passed since the battle of Crecy, and the English fighters are still abroad, laying siege to cities, towns and even small villages. To celebrate the publication, I’m delighted to host a fascinating in-depth guest post from the author. Last week, Simon and Schuster published Blood of the Innocents, the final part of Michael Jecks’ Vintener Trilogy, a series of books that takes us back in time to that most troublesome of centuries – the 14th – and the Hundred Years War.

Guests of war trilogy