The Butcher Bird: A Somershill Manor Mystery - Tapa dura

Sykes can be described as the 'medieval C. J. Sansom.' Off-the-charts imaginative and breathtaking.--New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver

Sykes offers an unusual perspective on this historical period. She also deals realistically with the troubles of the era's women.

Ms. Sykes does a skillful job of making her forward-thinking but all-too-human protagonist both believable and likeable, and in bringing to life an epoch when "science" was often as dangerous as superstition.

The second in Sykes' fine series is a puzzling mystery with a surprise at the end, filled with historical detail and, in Oswald, a slowly growing force to be reckoned with.

From his small village in Kent to the seamy underbelly of London, Oswald's mission to rid his land of the Butcher Bird is enthralling, chilling, and vastly entertaining.

Oswald de Lacy is growing up fast in his new position as Lord of Somershill Manor. However, there is still the same amount of work to be done in the farms and fields, and the few people left to do it think they should be paid more—something the King himself has forbidden.Just as anger begins to spread, the story of the Butcher Bird takes flight. People claim to have witnessed a huge creature in the skies. A new-born baby is found impaled on a thorn bush. And then more children disappear. Convinced the bird is just a superstitious rumor, Oswald must discover what is really happening. He can expect no help from his snobbish mother and his scheming sister Clemence, who is determined to protect her own child, but happy to neglect her step-daughters.