Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here, today posting as Kathy. As regular readers of this blog know, I’ve spent the last six months doing a total rewrite of a novel previously published in 2020. I’m pleased to announce that its release date was June 30, so it has been out in the world in e-book and print-on-demand formats for a whole two days. As usual, since I am retired and no longer travel well, I am not doing signings or mailings or most of the other promotional things writers are supposed to do. This post and announcements in the Weekend Update and on Facebook and Bluesky are pretty much it. Word-of-mouth and reader reviews are, of course, much appreciated. That doesn’t mean I think any less of the work that went into producing this novel, only that my goal is no longer to support myself with my writing but only to make what I’ve written available to anyone who might want to read it.

So, what is this book?  The Murder in Colchester Gaol began life as Murder in Colchester Gaol, a proposal for the third of four Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries. Unfortunately, and despite the fact that I had already written a draft of that book, the publisher preferred the plot I had suggested for Book Four. Rather than end the series at two novels, I set aside my manuscript and wrote Murder in a Cornish Alehouse, which was published as the third and last Mistress Jaffrey Mystery.

Colchester Castle

For Book Four to become Book Three, the chronology of events had to change, which meant that even if I later published it independently, the events in the original Book Three would no longer fit into Rosamond Jaffrey’s timeline. It didn’t take me long to decide on an alternate plan: revise the novel with new characters but keep much of the plot intact.

In between other projects, I did a complete rewrite. The result was published in 2020 as The Finder of Lost Things by a fledgling small press. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, including its launch during the Covid shutdown, the venture was not a success. The book received only one review in a review journal and sold fewer than 200 copies in the five years it was under contract.

After rights reverted to me I intended to do a quick review and reissue the title independently. Instead I ended up doing a total rewrite. Once again I changed character names. I also altered some of the motivations and interactions between characters as better ideas presented themselves. I am convinced the result is much improved, but if you happened to have read the earlier version, you probably won’t want to bother with this one. The general plot is unchanged.

I’ve given some consideration to producing an omnibus edition that would include all three versions—a study aimed at folks who like learning how writers work. I’ll have to reread the one featuring Rosamond Jaffrey (with a supporting role played by Lady Appleton, the sleuth in my Face Down series) before I decide. That version definitely wasn’t fully polished, but perhaps that’s what a fledgling writer or an interested reader would enjoy seeing. Feel free to express an opinion.

Getting back to The Murder in Colchester Gaol, the story is set in London and Essex in 1591 and the plot revolves around Alison Wynter’s efforts to discover if her youngest sister, Sybilla Palmer, was murdered while a prisoner in Colchester gaol. Sybilla was incarcerated there for the crime of hearing Mass and Alison is certain one of the other Catholic women arrested with her must have killed her. Discovering that person’s identity is no simple matter. To find out the truth, Alison contrives to have herself placed in prison with her suspects and pretends to be a new convert to Catholicism, but when Queen Elizabeth pardons all recusant women, Alison is also released. Unwilling to abandon her quest, she manages to be invited to Otley Manor, where Sybilla was living before her arrest.

Notorious Essex witch Elizabeth Lowys

This was a time of religious turmoil, when anyone who did not conform to the Church of England was suspected of being a traitor. Alison initially believes that Sybilla was killed because she changed her mind about converting and someone feared she would betray the Catholic priest who regularly said Mass at Otley Manor. She soon learns that matters are much more complex. She believed her sister had run away with and planned to marry Lady Otley’s brother, but Sybilla was serving as that gentlewoman’s companion, not a future sister-in-law. Worse, a short time before the arrest, Sybilla was accused of being bewitched, and then of being possessed by a demon and was forced to undergo an exorcism. Once she hears that, the priest who performed it and Sybilla’s lover become Alison’s prime suspects.

That’s the short synopsis. There’s a lot more going on. Living in the household at Otley Manor, Alison comes to realize that there are not as many religious differences between Catholics and Anglicans as she had supposed, and that not all Jesuit priests are plotting the overthrow of the queen. She becomes involved in the troubles of one of the maidservants. And just when she feels she is getting close to finding the answers to her questions, she herself is accused of witchcraft and ends up back to Colchester gaol.

Did I mention she has two older sisters who approved her scheme to investigate but grow concerned when their plan to retrieve her from gaol is thwarted by the queen’s pardon? She also has a husband, a wealthy merchant who is conveniently away on a trading voyage . . .  or is he?

I did not have to do new research for this rewrite, but I did plenty for the earlier versions. Colchester Castle is a real place and was used as a prison in the sixteenth century, although the cells on display in the castle’s museum date from a much later period and the exact appearance of the prison in 1591 is not documented except to report that the walls were in dire need of repair. As far as I know, neither recusants nor witches were imprisoned in Colchester gaol. Essex, however, was notorious for its witch trials and the cases my characters mention are real. Numerous books on Tudor crime, trials, law enforcement, prisons, witchcraft, and exorcisms provided details I used for fictional purposes.

This book is a bit darker than most of my mysteries, but I guarantee it has a happy ending with all the loose ends neatly tied up. The e-book (ISBN 979-8-235-56015-4) is reasonably priced at $5.99 while the trade paperback is as inexpensive as I can make it at $15.99 (ISBN 979-8-235-68466-1). Since I publish through Draft2Digital, both versions are widely available online, including through Bookshop.org, a website that assures the profit will go to the independent bookstore of your choice.

Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett has had sixty-four books traditionally published and has self published others. She won the Agatha Award and was an Anthony and Macavity finalist for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category. In 2023 she won the Lea Wait Award for “excellence and achievement” from the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. She was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor in 2014. She is currently working on creating new editions of her backlist titles. Her website is www.KathyLynnEmerson.com.