The Chronicles of Hugh de Singleton Books in Order
Part ofMel Starr Books in OrderExplore The Chronicles of Hugh de Singleton series by Mel Starr with books in order, summaries, background, and where-to-start tips for these medieval mysteries.
Last updated: January 12, 2026
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Publication Order
17 books
The Way of the Wicked
by Mel Starr
2024
Kendrick Wroe's body is pulled from the frozen Shill Brook, and most assume he died while poaching Lord Gilbert's fish. Hugh is not so sure, and when Kendrick's friends are attacked and his daughter Bessie is abducted, the investigation turns urgent and painfully personal.
A Polluted Font
by Mel Starr
2023
When Hugh and Kate bring their newborn son to be baptized, they discover the locked church font mysteriously dry. Soon after, Father Robert is found bleeding near the rood screen, and rising anger over a new poll tax adds another layer of danger to Hugh's inquiry.
Suppression and Suspicion
by Mel Starr
2022
Edmund Harkins, a notorious wife beater and bully, goes missing from Bampton and later turns up as a corpse rooted out by hungry pigs. Almost everyone wanted him gone, so Hugh must sift through grudges, a meddling new vicar, and an anxious village to find the killer.
Master Wycliffe's Summons
by Mel Starr
2021
After a thunderstorm, one of John Wycliffe's scholars is found dead and everyone blames lightning. Wycliffe is not convinced, so Hugh travels to Oxford to test whether human malice, clever devices, and even plague are stalking the college halls.
The Easter Sepulchre
by Mel Starr
2020
Keeping vigil at the Easter Sepulchre, where the Host and crucifix rest between Good Friday and Easter, is considered an honor. When the priest's clerk Odo disappears and dried blood is found before the altar, Hugh must trace what befell the missing watchman.
Without a Trace
by Mel Starr
2019
Lady Philippa and her maid vanish from an enclosed wagon while traveling to Bampton, leaving her husband and household baffled. When a ransom note names Hugh as the courier, he must work out whether he is dealing with a simple kidnapping or something far stranger.
Prince Edward's Warrant
by Mel Starr
2018
Summoned to attend the ailing Black Prince in London, Hugh finds himself dining at Kennington Palace when his escort, Sir Giles, collapses and dies. Poison is suspected, and the investigation leads through royal favor, old battlefield loyalties, and dangerous court intrigue.
Deeds of Darkness
by Mel Starr
2017
When Bampton's coroner, Hubert Shillside, fails to return from a trip to Oxford, Hugh rides out to look for him. Instead he finds a different corpse and rumors of violent robber bands, forcing him to face the limits of justice when powerful men protect the guilty.
Lucifer's Harvest
by Mel Starr
2016
War with France pulls Hugh away from Bampton as he rides to Aquitaine with Lord Gilbert's company. When his old enemy Sir Simon Trillowe is murdered on campaign, Hugh must prove he is not seeking revenge and find the real killer among the troops.
Ashes to Ashes
by Mel Starr
2015
After Hugh, Kate, and their children attend the Midsummer's Eve fire, burned human bones are discovered in the cooling ashes. As other men from nearby villages turn up missing or dead, Hugh traces how a despised bailiff came to be hidden in the blaze.
The Abbot's Agreement
by Mel Starr
2014
On the road to Oxford, Hugh finds the body of a young Benedictine novice, barefoot and stabbed near a nearby abbey. Drawn into monastic politics, he must satisfy an anxious abbot while following a trail of secrets that reaches far beyond the cloister.
Rest Not in Peace
by Mel Starr
2013
Sir Henry Burley, an overbearing guest at Bampton Castle, takes a sleeping potion from Hugh and is found dead the next morning. With suspicion falling on his own medicines, Hugh must uncover whether sudden illness or careful poison ended the knight's life.
The Tainted Coin
by Mel Starr
2012
A badly beaten traveling chapman is left dying beneath the porch of St. Andrew's Chapel, an ancient coin hidden in his mouth. Hugh's hunt for the attackers and the coin's origin leads through kidnappings, a ruthless abbot, and secrets powerful men would silence.
Unhallowed Ground
by Mel Starr
2011
Thomas atte Bridge, the most disliked man in Bampton, is found hanging from a tree and everyone assumes suicide. Hugh and his wife Kate see signs of murder, forcing him to untangle old grudges and a priest's dark past before another death follows.
A Trail of Ink
by Mel Starr
2010
Precious books vanish from the study of scholar John Wycliffe, and he calls on his former pupil Hugh de Singleton to recover them. The search draws Hugh back to Oxford, where stolen manuscripts, a drowned scholar, and his courtship of Kate dangerously intersect.
A Corpse at St. Andrew's Chapel
by Mel Starr
2009
After the manor beadle, Alan, fails to return from his nightly curfew rounds, his body is found savagely torn near the track to St. Andrew's Chapel. Master Hugh must decide whether a wolf, a man, or something more tangled is to blame.
The Unquiet Bones
by Mel Starr
2008
Hugh de Singleton, a newly trained surgeon in Oxford, is invited to Bampton Castle after healing Lord Gilbert's injury. When a young woman's bones are found in the castle cesspit, his medical skills and quiet persistence are tested by his first murder inquiry.
Series background & context
The Chronicles of Hugh de Singleton drops readers into Bampton, a small Oxfordshire village in the 1360s, not long after the Black Death. Fields, manors, and churches are still recovering from plague and war, and tensions between lords, clergy, and villagers run close to the surface.
Hugh de Singleton is the fourth son of a minor knight, educated as a clerk and then trained in surgery in Paris. He comes to Oxford hoping to hang out his shingle as a surgeon, but his life changes when he treats Lord Gilbert Talbot after a riding accident.
Impressed by both skill and honesty, Lord Gilbert offers him a position at Bampton Castle as resident surgeon and, soon after, as bailiff. That combination gives Hugh an unusual role: he is responsible for keeping the peace, enforcing manorial law, and examining the dead when something looks suspicious.
Each book centers on a fresh investigation: bones found in a castle cesspit, a beadle discovered with his throat torn, stolen manuscripts from John Wycliffe's study, a hanging that might not be suicide, burned remains in a Midsummer bonfire, or a lady who vanishes from a locked wagon. Along the way the stories take time for harvests, market days, feasts, and the routines of a medieval household.
The pace is measured rather than frantic, with room for dry humor, small domestic moments, and the occasional bout of swordplay or danger on the road.
Faith and history sit side by side in the series. Hugh is a thoughtful Christian who struggles with questions of justice and mercy, and real figures such as theologian John Wycliffe appear as mentors and friends. Glossaries and maps often frame the novels, helping modern readers follow the language, places, and customs without feeling as if they are reading a textbook.
Over time readers watch Hugh court and marry Kate, build a family, and gain a wider circle of allies and enemies. Later volumes draw him into the orbit of Prince Edward during the wars in France, confront him with lawless student bands and corrupt officials, and send him from village lanes to royal halls, always with his surgeon's kit close at hand.
If you like your mysteries with clear stakes, steady moral questions, and a strong sense of place, this series offers a long visit to fourteenth century England. You can enter almost anywhere, but following Hugh's cases in order lets you see both the village and its bailiff change over the years.
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