Showing results by author "John Broughton" in All Categories

In seventh century England, tribes and so-called kings vie for power and blood flows throughout the land. Aethelred - ruler of Mercia - is being pressed from all sides, and his wife Osthryth dies under unknown circumstances. Osthryth’s ring falls into the hands of warrior noble Aethelbald, who is accused of her murder and forced to leave Mercia by his conniving cousin Coeolred, who has eyes on the throne. When Aethelred abdicates and the weakling Cenred assumes power, Coelred sees a path to become the king.

Detective Inspectors Vance and Shepherd reunite in the second book in John Broughton's Vance And Shepherd Mysteries. After a murder is committed in a quiet suburban subway under a tramline, it becomes obvious that the murder squad is dealing with a copycat killer.

Detective Inspector Jacob Vance and his assistant, Detective Sergeant Brittany Shepherd, are called upon to prevent a series of murders across London. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has provoked a psychopath with her inaugural speech. Soon later, the commissioner receives a letter threatening a series of nine killings, culminating in "the big one", unless the police chief retracts her speech with a public apology. To disprove her statements, the killer adds colour and poetry to the murders, all committed in the name of the mysterious Lord Robert.

As the old gods are eroded by the new church and and ambitious men vie for power, blood is shed throughout the land. In the south, ealdorman Aelfhere believes that for his only daughter, 16-year-old Cynethryth, marriage to a Saxon king is the way to security. And so, against her own wishes, Cynethryth is betrothed. Yet as battle rages around her, Cynethryth too becomes a victim of war. Taken prisoner by the warrior invaders, she is forced into the presence of another Saxon king, who would also have her for his wife. A man she actually loves.

Welcome to the world of the not-quite-living. While zombies still have physical bodies, their minds are irrevocably changed. No longer governed by a conscience, incapable of reason, unrestrained by values of right and wrong, they often follow primitive instincts. If their new focus is overwhelming hunger, they let nothing get in the way of their urge to feed. Confronted by a zombie, how would you defend yourself and those you love? What if it was your friend, relative or spouse, with remnants of their old personality - would you protect them or kill them? Is a zombie an individual with ...

In his darkest hour, hiding in the depths of the Somerset marshes in AD 878, King Alfred devises a scheme to save his kingdom from the Vikings threatening to overwhelm the country. His spectacular success, beginning with the triumphant battle of Ethandun, involves creating a sense of nation among his subjects.

As humankind struggles for survival, an ancient race of creators sets in motion a plan that will define the future of planet Earth. In the middle of it all are Mark and Charlotte: two teenagers oblivious to what is happening around them, or why they have been chosen. Abducted and altered, the two soon become pawns in a game beyond their comprehension. With the fate of the human race hanging in the balance, will they find their way to a new Garden of Eden, or face complete annihilation?

After the Norman Conquest, fate throws a studious monk and a bluff mason together for a lifelong friendship. The monk, Thurgot, senses Kenrick’s destiny, a man who saves him from drowning near the Farne Isles. His Christian beliefs entwine with Kenrick’s pragmatic talents to overcome the obstacles of revolt, persecution, and hardship that these turbulent times present. Each is able to leave his mark in late 11th- and early 12th-century Northumbria.

A sinister Masonic-Templar organization - The Brotherhood of the Wand - is planning to bring the world to its knees and create a dystopian one-government world. The price? Eighty percent of the world's population. To achieve this aim, they are planning to harness ley lines and other ancient earth energies to reawaken the Serpent: a mythical creature known to all early civilizations by different names.

Begiloc, a young freedman from Wimborne, is a man of action. But his world turns upside down when the young Briton and his best friend Meryn are ordered away to protect English missionaries in Germany. For a man accustomed to brutality, Begiloc has a soft spot for the purple-tinged mountains, waterfalls, lakes, animals, trees and flowers - beginning to muse whether they, rather than man, do not better embody the essence of God.

It is AD 689, and Cynethryth is returning from Rome, carrying her dead husband's child. She soon gives birth to a son, Aethelheard, whose parentage alone places him in danger. His mother has a tough choice to make and travels to Dorset, where the king is a cousin of her late husband.

When Rick Hughes receives a reliquary pendant as a gift from an old friend, he has no idea what's coming next. Drawn to an old excavation site, Rick stumbles upon a portal that takes him back to the eighth century, and in the middle of a Viking invasion. After discovering a shocking link to the present, Rick is determined to intervene and save the inhabitants of the village from devastation - and to find a scientific explanation for what is happening.

King Alfred never achieved his dream of uniting the disparate Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into one Perfecta Saxonia. The man destined to fulfill Alfred's dream is his grandson, Athelstan, as the spark of unity begins in the Saxon kingdom of Wessex. Abandoned by his father and raised by his uncle, young Athelstan faces numerous adversities on his way to becoming a mighty warrior and diplomat. But can he overcome the odds to transform England from an insignificant island off the Western European mainland, into the leading centre of 10th-century diplomacy and learning?

MI5 has a task for psychic investigator Jake Conley: Operation Black Panther, a mission to obtain DNA from a beast in Exmoor. Meanwhile, wealthy arms manufacturer, Dr. Aubrey Drake, and the unhinged Major Lorimer infiltrate a top-secret military research station, dreaming of creating the ultimate soldier. Soon, Jake and his psychic powers are in their crosshairs. The odds are stacked against Jake, and needs to tap into new areas of knowledge to defeat his enemies. But will it end in failure, as it logically should, or in a karmic payback?

Amid the bloodshed of 11th-century combat and conquest, Saxon Godwine elevates himself from landless youth to trusted confidante of the most powerful man in England. A kingmaker, Godwine’s fealty propels six monarchs to occupy the English throne in his lifetime. But the pursuit of power is not without peril, and his skillful diplomacy and battle prowess are constantly tested by the schemes of distant, formidable enemies.

Mierce, the English Midlands, 8th Century A.D. Æthelbald, King of Mierce, is a man of ambition. Having created much-needed stability within his domain, he now aspires to take the surrounding kingdoms to expand and fortify his own. Stealthy and cunning, Æthelbald manipulates other men of power to achieve his goals. As Æthelbald’s reign grows and strengthens, so too does the authority of the church, whose leverage over monarchical matters becomes increasingly overbearing.

John Broughton's Expulsion is a historically accurate, riveting adventure set in the medieval times, where riches and power are in the reach of the resourceful, and death is always just one step away.

After aspiring novelist Jake Conley regains consciousness from a coma, he discovers he’s affected by synaesthesia and that his now cross-wired brain endows him with heightened psychic powers. Jake’s research on the Northumbrian king Aldfrith takes him to Elfrid’s Hole in North Yorkshire, where - as legend relates - the king sheltered after a bloody battle. What Jake doesn't realize is that his investigation has unleashed a series of deadly paranormal events in which Jake himself becomes the prime suspect.

Christ Church Priory, Canterbury, 990 AD. Orphaned by Vikings, Folcwin and his elder brother, Aelfwynn, have become excellent scribes. Their lives, enlivened by sibling rivalry, are upset by a competition to illuminate a commissioned psalter. After Folcwin is selected the victor, his brother is accused of murdering another competitor, and he escapes. While Aelfwynn begins a patriotic battle against Viking raiders, Folcwin’s fame as a scribe increases.

When the veil is thinnest, an ancient book of fairy lore acts as a bridge between two worlds. After young Emily finds an old book of fairy lore at an antiques fair, she discovers that it has instructions on how to enter the Other World. Together with her brother Adam, they step into the Whirligig: an unending carousel of states that govern the world.