Chateau Sarony Series

This is the first book in the Chateau Sarony series by RCS Hutching. When archaeologists Anna Freemont and Martin Price set out to establish whether the story of treasure found in Italy by a fifteenth-century French knight is more than just a rumour with no factual basis they decide to start their work in France. Not only is the historical record unreliable but complications are caused by Martin's seemingly intransigent nature and Anna's hot temper.  A local gang of motorcycle thugs and the clash of their own personalities do nothing to ease the difficulties of their task.

The remains of a WW1 soldier and four WW2 soldiers are discovered beneath a deserted farmhouse in France. Not so unusual except for the fact that they all appear to have died at the same time. How this is possible is a question Anna and Martin Price must resolve when asked to help out an old friend. This, the second Chateau Sarony mystery leads the couple on a trail of deception and murder spanning several decades. How does Martin's old US Marine friend fit into the picture? Is he as helpful as it first appears or is he following an agenda set by other unknown parties... 

Horrified, Anna could only watch as the thieves, having accomplished their mission, turned back to retrace their steps and found the blonde American in their path. One of them ran at her, swinging his arm to one side with the clear intention of catching her in the face to knock her out of the way. She ducked and, spinning to her left, landed a side-footed stamp with her right leg to the outside of his knee. The leg buckled at an alarming angle and with a howl of pain, her attacker crashed to the pavement. A quiet lunch in Dijon took an unexpected turn as Anna and Martin accompanied their American friends to the nearest large town. It was an unpleasant interruption to their research into an intelligence leak that could have compromised the success of the D-Day landings in 1944. The source of the leak had never been identified. This third Chateau Sarony mystery involves Anna and Martin Price in an investigation that provides a startling conclusion.

In September 1977 when the lead singer and creative force of 'Wheelspin' walks out the rock band falls apart and becomes just another briefly famous and largely forgotten casualty of the pop music scene.  In the same month, a Soviet diplomat is killed in a hit and run incident on a London street.  Five months later a young man falls to his death from a north London roadbridge.   These events are revealed as Martin and Anna Price search for the owner of a security box held by a Swiss bank. Whether they have a bearing on their investigation is unclear but it becomes apparent that they are not the only ones interested in the whereabouts of the former band member named Jase. A trail of duplicity and avarice commencing in the pop music world of the nineteen-seventies comes to light as the husband and wife team follow a number of leads which they hope will also reveal the whereabouts of one of the long missing Faberge Imperial Eggs.

An old friend of Professor-Hubert Smithson-Hunt writes to him concerning the appearance of a Military Cross on a TV antiques programme, having realised its connection with a failed clandestine British Intelligence operation during the Second World War. His letter sets Anna and Martin Price off on one of their most intriguing and hazardous investigations. Against her better judgement, Simone D'Amboise was persuaded to take her grandfather's Military Cross along to a TV antiques show - it was unusual for a member of the Royal Air Force to be awarded an MC, but not unheard of. After the TV programme is broadcast she is approached by an author and historian named Professor Cadette, but her policeman boyfriend does not trust the man's motives. Rather than involve his personal life with his work he asks Anna and Martin Price if they would make some unofficial enquiries about the man. Those enquiries uncover a trail of murder and blackmail reaching from the French village of Dirac in the dark days of the German occupation in World War II, through to the dubious activities of Simone's grandfather and a former German Abwehr officer in East Berlin during the 1950's. It belatedly becomes clear that the events occurring at Château Dirac during the German occupation provide the motive for murder and housebreaking which occur during 2015 as the investigation unfolds. What the journey to France by two of King Charles Stuart's former Cavaliers has to do with the events of 2015 leads not only to Martin almost losing his life, but to an astonishing discovery which profoundly affects the lives of all who are involved.

This sixth Chateau Sarony novel concerns the events arising as a consequence of the purchase by Nikki Prendergast of an American Civil War officer's pistol. The gun had lain untouched in an attic from 1945 to the present day but having become aware of its existence others are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to obtain it. Anna and Martin Price discover that the gun is key to resolving a secret originating from the time of the Conquistadores - long before the conflict between North and South and are ably assisted in their efforts by the US Marine Corps in the shape of their friends Colin Burstow and Aggie Cleburne. Whether Anna's fragile temperament will be able to hold up under the demands made by the life and death nature of the dangers they encounter is a question only she can answer.

People don't just disappear. They are not there one second and gone the next.  On the other hand, seeing is believing. Signoret was a man in his early fifties and although no more than five feet ten inches tall, was broadly built with a deep chest and powerful shoulders. He looked the Englishman directly in the eyes and in his smoker's voice growled "I think it is a matter of murder, Marti. Let me explain in more detail. You know I told you I had bought some land over to the west of the city? Well, to be precise, it was a derelict former football ground - originally home to one of several Dijon based clubs formed around the time of the first world war. The club was called Dijon Olympique and became very successful very quickly. They had on their books a player by the name of Didier Lebrun, who if playing today would be described as world class and valued in the many millions. He was a star in all senses of the word and his goals propelled the club to the top of our first division three times in succession, the last of which was the season 1923-24 following which, Didier Lebrun disappeared. He simply vanished and not a whisper has been heard of him since - until now, that is. That's ninety-one years, Marti, ninety-one!" The Cross of St Livianus was said to have been fashioned from the sword carried by the Centurion who attended the crucifixion of Jesus. It is first mentioned in a letter from Sir Guy de Fenton who was part of the 1st Crusade in the 11th Century. The sword was taken to France and is next heard of among the sacred artefacts of a French abbey in the region of Dijon at the time of the Burgundian Wars. Count De Bruyon and his men are reported to have stopped at the abbey and received a blessing from the cross on their way to join the forces of Charles the Bold before the siege of Neuss in 1473. Nothing more was recorded until the mid-nineteenth century when a certain Claude Somer discovered the cross whilst digging on his land. When Martin and Anna Price investigate the disappearance of a famous French footballer almost a century earlier they also learn the story of the Cross of St Livianus, said to be owned by the Somer family. Why that family should wish to halt their investigation is unclear. The unexpected appearance of an old friend from England brings further complications into what should have been a quiet summer in Sarony.

2014 The distance from an archaeological site office to a small hotel has never been formally adopted by the International Athletics Association as an accepted race distance, which is a great pity because Anna Price would have been a gold medallist. 68AD "Who's going to buy these two from you. You haven't got any evidence of ownership I bet." He casually grabbed a handful of the nearest woman's red hair and yanked the bruised tear stained face upwards to meet his eyes." Two men and two women separated by centuries but ultimately connected by a great archaeological discovery.

It is November 2015 when Martin and Anna Price are asked to research the history of a medieval seal acquired by a United States senator on eBay. Although this takes them away from Sarony, they see it as a welcome respite from the huge workload they have struggled with following the momentous events of the summer. Their colleague, Nikki Prendergast, accompanies them to England to attend her father's fiftieth birthday celebration and stays with them when they journey to Devon to meet with the dealer who sold the seal. All appears as expected – a quiet and undemanding exercise in historical research for a friend – until to Anna's dismay they find a former colleague of Martin's is staying at the same hotel. Suzie Brightside, a serving member of British Military Intelligence, is engaged on a mission relating to the theft of data from the heart of the intelligence service. As a result, Anna, Martin and Nikki find themselves drawn into a dangerous and complex web of murder and intrigue. The murder of a lonely eccentric woman at her farm near Northmere is followed by an unforeseen helicopter raid on the property. An old private girls school in the nearby village of Camberdown becomes linked to the mystery which moves through Bristol, Bromley and finally, the centre of London. The data is still missing, however, so where is it and is there a third party involved who has remained hidden throughout?

When the initial excitement arising from the Boudica discovery by Grantfield University had died down, work at the site returned to normal. The contents of the hidden chamber had been transferred to the new Visitor Centre and the site team were carrying out the far less glamourous work - taking final measurements and generally tidying up.  A void-test on one wall of the chamber revealed the existence of a small hidden area; Anna and Martin Price, having been heavily involved in the original discovery almost twelve months before are asked invited to attend as observers when the wall is breached. Almost two thousand years earlier the headman of a Romano-British settlement on the site of the Grantfield University 'dig' set out on a mission of revenge. Former Centurion Marcus Rustius Dexter believed the man responsible for the death of his parents and several thousand Romans and Celts on the island of Britannia had not died in the aftermath of the violence but was very much alive and living in the Roman province of Gaul. He receives assistance in his mission from Centurion Velius, now senior centurion of the Legio Secunda Augusta but in return is asked to lead  a band of twenty veteran legionaries across Britannia to receive their official release from service at the port of Dubris. One of the veterans by the name of Gallio is informally appointed as Optio to Rustius and a firm friendship is cemented following an attack on the small force by a Belgae war band. Thanks to the centurion's leadership the heavily outnumbered Romans triumph but the bloody encounter proves to be the event which sets Rustius off on a convoluted trail to uncover an astounding plot to detach Britannia from the Roman Empire. His initial mission then becomes entwined with the far more urgent need to prevent a conspiracy which if successful would create chaos and suffering throughout Britannia. In December 2015 Martin's order "Now, Dave. Sharp left. That's it, foot down. Don't tickle it, stamp on it" sent the old Land Rover in frantic pursuit of two men desperately attempting to escape with what they had stolen from the Visitor Centre and enabled the mystery of what had been hidden behind the wall of the old chamber to be resolved. As a result, Anna and Martin Price gained detailed insight into not only the outcome of the Centurion's journey but also the character of the man himself.

The reappearance of Suzie Brightside reawakened Anna's doubts concerning her own ability to make a significant contribution to the task taken on by her husband, Martin. Unlike Suzie, she was not one of the warriors from his time in the army and in contrast to the redheaded woman possessed no fighting skills that could be relied upon if things turned nasty. Adding to her ever-present lack of confidence was the knowledge that not only was the capable Suzie Brightside more than able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Martin but as a former comrade shared secrets and possessed memories to which she, Anna, was unlikely to ever become privy. Despite no longer being a member of the military, when British Intelligence in the form of the Brightside woman called, Martin would never refuse to help his old friend and comrade.

Aggie Cleburne and Colin Burstow, both serving US Marine Corps officers, decide to take their summer 2016 leave in Europe with their friends Anna and Martin Price at Chateau Sarony close to Dijon. The visit will also enable them to attend the wedding between Nikki Prendergast, who works for Anna and Martin's company Timewarp Ltd and Gendarme Capitaine Jean-Paul Ricard. When a local dam is breached, and sabotage by members of the US forces based at Dijon suspected, duty interrupts their vacation plans. Along with Anna and Martin, they become involved in what at first appears to be the discovery and theft of a long-lost item from the French Crown Jewels, last seen in 1795. Two subsequent murders then lead them to conclude that the matter is connected to a conspiracy which could result in the loss of hundreds of innocent lives and cause irreparable damage to relations between France and the United States.

The English are not the favourite nation for much of the French population any more than the inhabitants of France are viewed with affection by the population of Albion. This tradition of mutual antipathy although practised enthusiastically by both parties on a national scale was not reflected within the microcosm of Sarony. The small Burgundian village honoured a tradition equally as ancient - a continuation of the almost feudal respect given to the owners of Château Sarony. The fact that the husband and wife pairing of Martin and Anna Price was wholly English in nature was something the Sarony villagers in their wisdom were prepared to overlook. The unlikely cause of the investigation into events occurring in the dark days of 1940 was the wedding reception in 2016 held at Auberge Fleurie in honour of the marriage of Monique Lascelles to Kev Johnstone. Alcohol and vibrant music often combine to encourage behaviour of an uncharacteristic nature and Anna, never much of a party girl by nature, was having such an unusually stimulating time that she was less than sympathetic on hearing of the embarrassment caused to her mother on the dance floor. Unexpectedly, the incident would enable her, together with Martin, her husband, to seek refuge from the boring work on hand and look into the activities of a German sabotage unit in wartime Britain. As an added complication, the culprit who had pinched her mother's bottom at the reception then asked them for a favour, as owners of Château Sarony.  Initially annoyed by Martin's ready agreement to look into the disappearance of an object dear to the hearts of the Sarony inhabitants, she became intrigued by the subject and accepted Martin's view that their immersion in Sarony life brought with it certain traditional social responsibilities. Two wartime mysteries being viewed from the year 2016 and very little in the way of hard evidence to assist in their resolution.

As a favour for Professor Hubert Smithson-Hunt, Martin and Anna Price attempt to discover whether the pristine Roman Denarii purchased by their old friend are authentic. During the course of what they believe will be no more than a short routine task, they encounter two ruthless killings in Truro which the police are content to regard as the result of a bungled burglary. Their enquiries lead them to conclude that there could be a link to the disappearance in 1973 of a young couple of newlyweds from Yorkshire and possibly a fatal car accident in Spain that same year. Could these events have any connection with the punitive mission led by Centurion Marcus Rustius Dexter during the reign of Vespasion in the first century? In the words of Martin Price, 'Anything is possible'.