House of Death by Paul Doherty

[jan]

I discovered two books by Paul Doherty, and am in the beginning of the tale called House of Death. These books are not for children. Has anyone any knowledge of this author and his interest in the subject?

[ScottOden]

This is from twobooks.com.uk:"Paul Doherty was born in Middlesbrough. He studied history at Liverpool and Oxford, where he obtained a doctorate for his thesis on Edward II and Isabella. He has an extraordinary amount of energy: his day job is being the head of the Catholic school, Trinity, in Essex, one of the largest comprehensives in the country, which recently won an Ofsted Oscar for excellence, despite being in quite a disadvantaged area, and he is an extremely prolific writer besides. His bestselling historical crime novels include: the Hugh Corbett books, set in the early fourteenth century; the Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan; a series under the name of Michael Clyne; a series based on characters from the Canterbury Tales, and, most recently a series based in ancient Egypt. P.C.Doherty also writes as Paul Harding. He lives near Epping Forest with his wife and seven children."Hope it helps

[marcus]

Indeed. I might also add, however, that he doesn't know much about Alexander and ancient history.I've read all four of his Alexander books (the first two were written under the pseudonym Anna Apostolou) and I've tried to be charitable, but his errors are lamentable. And his characterisation is a bit shoddy, too (just to pile insult upon insult).That's not to say that they aren't quite a good read - I wasn't put off actually reading the books.All the bestMarcus

[jan]

Thanks for that info. I have finished with House of Death, and it is a really exciting version of the battle of Granica. I can now understand why this group does not like Manfredi, as I have just completed his version of the same battle. Writer style is prevalent here, and I really enjoyed Paul's version much better than Valerio's. However, one has to take into consideration the target audience.However, Doherty is for a really mature and probably male audience who will appreciate his vivid imagery.

[jan]

That is very interesting as I read the books by Anna some time ago, and thought that they sounded a lot like Allan Massey in his Caesar books. Both use the same kind of device in Mouse, and I just found their styles to be much alike. I appreciate learning all of this now.

[marcus]

Hi Janet,Yes, I think Doherty does read a bit like Massey's Caesar. I quite enjoyed those (haven't read all of them yet, though). Ultimately, Massey probably owes a lot to Robert Graves, while Doherty isn't very Gravesian... but fun to read, all the same.All the bestMarcus