The Hawks of Delamere Volume VII of the Domesday BooksSigned first edition de Marston, A.E - 1997

London: Headline, 1997. First edition, 1997. Signed by the author to the title page. Hardback. 246pp. Dust jacket in a protective sleeve. Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, leads a hunting party into the Forest of Delamere. He is anxious to demonstrate the superiority of his hawk, which he boasts, has the same predatory instincts as its master. But as the bird hovers it is pierced by an arrow and falls to the ground. The ensuing search for the perpetrator of this heinous crime yields two poachers and the enraged Earl orders their immediate execution. But who is the hooded figure that flees deep into the forest? And who is the hidden witness, crouching petrified but undetected? Meanwhile Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret, Domesday Commissioners, have been summoned from Winchester to settle a series of disputes between the Church and the State and are to be guests of the Earl during their stay. They need to discover why Idwal, the over-zealous Welsh churchman is hiding the true reason for his visit to the city and whose arrow is responsible for a second gruesome death in the Forest of Delamere. Book in very good condition. Light toning to the page edges. A very clean copy. Dust jacket in near fine condition. Unclipped. Very minor edge wear only.