17th Century Witchcraft

17th Century Witchcraft

by | Aug 28, 2024 | Pepys & 17th

I love folk-horror; in fact, I considered writing a series of folk-horror novels – and may still come back to it, one day – before I hit upon the concept of the Pepys Mysteries, which excited me even more. Having promised book recommendations, here’s...
17th Century London Housing

17th Century London Housing

by | Aug 27, 2024 | Pepys & 17th

I remember writing my very first Pepys Mystery – which feels like an age ago – the introductory novella, Mr Pepys’s Stolen Diaries. It was my first dip into 17th century London and I remember thinking, What did the houses look like? Happily, there...
A Bump in the Night

A Bump in the Night

by | Aug 26, 2024 | Pepys & 17th

I’ll occasionally pick out an entry from Samuel Pepys’s diary, which tickled me for some reason. This one highlights how very similar we are to Sam and his wife, Elizabeth, though existing many centuries apart. It’s an episode in which things go bump in the night…...
The Plague Doctor

The Plague Doctor

by | Aug 25, 2024 | Pepys & 17th

I’m rapid-publishing the first three Pepys Mysteries over the course of the next three months, in the hope of establishing the series, so they’re all written and ready to go. Thus, I can zip forward in time and post from Book 2: The Plague Doctor Murders...
The Witchfinder General

The Witchfinder General

by | Aug 24, 2024 | Pepys & 17th

Another research post from The Brampton Witch Murders today, concerning the Witchfinder General himself, Matthew Hopkins (or, as Hopkins titles himself in his own book, the ‘Witch Finder Generall’). Since I was writing about witch-hunting in the 17th...