A Season of Knives

March 4, 1996
A penniless nobleman fights corruption and intrigue in Elizabethan England in this rousing tale of murder and treachery. As Deputy Warden of the English West March, Sir Robert Carey, introduced in A Famine of Horses, attempts to rid his bailiwick of military purveyor James Pennycook, whose disgusting provisions are making life miserable for the garrison of Carlisle. Carey, named to his sensitive post by his brother-in-law, the Warden Lord Scrope, calls on his wits and gambling skill when he himself becomes deeply involved in the murder of a corrupt garrison official: his former servant is jailed, charged with committing the crime, and hints that it was at his master's direction. Carey must also battle Sir Richard Lowther, his dishonest rival for the deputy's post, as well as raiders from the Debatable Land between England and Scotland, who plot to make off with Carey's married and virtuous love, Elizabeth Widdrington. Chisholm's brilliant depiction of 16th-century English life, high and low, domestic and public, is neatly held together by his believable and engaging protagonist.