Paisley, 1542. As the armies of Henry VIII and James V prepare for battle, Catholic exile Simon Danforth must decide his loyalties. Cast out of England, he is drawn by private grief to a secretive Scottish Abbey, and the mystery of a missing girl who worked there. Though Paisley and its Abbey refuse to give up their secrets, they do give up their dead. In the tense and suspicious atmosphere of a nation at war, Danforth, in an uneasy alliance with his dogged colleague, Arnaud Martin, uncovers murder, madness, and sexual desire infecting the sacred house and its neighbouring town. With the fate of his adoptive country hanging in the balance, does he dare to uncover the unimaginable truth? Some secrets may be better left buried. The Abbey Close is the first book in a new historical crime series, featuring Simon Danforth. Recommended for fans of C.

J. Sampson, S.J. Parris and Rory Clements. "A superb, page-turning debut. The author balances gimlet-eyed research with narrative drive and clever reveals. Danforth is a strong yet torn central character. I look forward to reading the second book in the series.

" Richard Foreman. Steven Veerapen was born in Glasgow and raised in Paisley. Pursuing an interest in the sixteenth century, he was awarded a first-class Honours degree in English, focussing his dissertation on representations of Henry VIII's six wives. He then received a Masters in Renaissance studies, and a Ph.D. investigating Elizabethan slander. The Abbey Close represents his first foray into fictional writing. Steven is fascinated by the glamour and ghastliness of life in the 1500s, and has a penchant for myths, mysteries and murders in an age in which the law was as slippery as those who defied it.