The St. Edmundsbury Mysteries, Book 1
YA Mystery
Date Published: December 1, 2021
“The relic is gone!”
On her first day working in the Abbey of St. Edmundsbury, Aileen finds herself in the center of it all when a Crusader returning from the Holy Land brings a priceless gift, a piece of the True Cross upon which Jesus died. But when the gift is stolen and the family of Aileen’s friend Ruth is accused of the theft, Aileen and her friends are put to tests of bravery, loyalty, and wit as they work to exonerate Ruth’s family and restore the spirit of the town.
Crusader’s Way is the first installment of a debut YA historical mystery series. The books can be read as standalones, although it is recommended to read them in order.
Introduce yourself and tell me about what you do.
I’m English, although I graduated high school in New Zealand. I served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service and then went to law school. I worked for the Council of Europe in Strasbourg preparing background documentation for the first European Parliamentary Hearing on maritime pollution and then worked in London until an American company asked me to come over to the U.S. I’ve been here ever since.
I have spent most of my career working for non-profits or governmental organizations. In 2012 I came to Columbus, GA as the Risk Manager for the City. I won several awards for the programs I set in place and was a speaker at several conventions during my time there. I retired from the City in 2023 and became a mediator. Being a mediator enables me to set my own schedule and allows me a lot more time to write!
For relaxation I have always been involved in music. I have written songs, performed in musical theater and altogether love to sing. Travel provides me with a lot of ideas for my writing, and being retired is opening up the possibility of doing more of that. I obviously have always enjoyed reading, and I also like baking, needlework, knitting and gardening. I am owned by a westie (!), who gives lots of love and laughter every single day.
Tell me more about your journey as an author, including the writing processes.
Writing is something that has always been a part of my life. I started writing stories as a child and have never stopped. I won a few short story competitions for radio years ago, and have done a lot of writing professionally. I wrote a couple of pieces for Cornerstone magazine when they put out an edition on the law.
The idea for Crusader’s Way came to me in the late 1990’s, but my professional life didn’t leave me the ability to spend enough time on the book to finish it to the standard that I felt it deserved.
For me writing is an all-encompassing process. That’s kind of scary, if you think about it, because when you publish your writing you are really inviting readers to come inside your mind and see if they like what’s in there! If you are writing about history I don’t believe you can better what actually happened so, unless you are writing a time travel book, I don’t mess around with it. That means I spent years making sure I got my history right in Crusader’s Way. I looked at the big picture, of course, but I also looked at expressions that were and were not in use in the early 13th century, the street names in the town where it is set (the layout is pretty much the same today as it was then) and lots of other esoterica.
When I started developing my idea for the book there was no internet. Research was a matter of going to the library or reading books. The internet has certainly sped up that process!
After I had researched the history I sat down and wrote biographies for each of the recurring characters in the series. I then wrote biographies of the characters that would appear only in the first book. That way my characters became real people in my mind and I knew I could write a book that would flow. The people in the book would behave as their characters would behave. That meant a few things in my outline changed as I wrote, because I realized I was writing a scene that did not mesh with the characters.
Once the research and the bios were done I wrote an outline. I write full outlines, but I find that doing this enables me to write the actual book in a fairly short period of time. I don’t get stuck because I know my characters and I know the story. Those who had read Crusader’s Way say it flows. That makes me glad because that was my intent!
Tell me about your Book
Crusader’s Way is set in the year 1204. It take place primarily in St. Edmundsbury (present day Bury St. Edmunds). It is the first in a planned series I have entitled the St. Edmundsbury Mysteries.
The abbey was an extremely important place in the Middle Ages. The abbot had been granted the right to “rule” over what was termed the “Liberty.” He imposed taxes, he held court and he generally stood in the place of the king. The abbey was also the site of the shrine of St. Edmund, who was actually the first patron saint of England. The shrine was a place of pilgrimage.
The main characters are a pair of young adults named Aileen and Robert. Aileen has just begun working as an embroiderer in the abbey. Robert is apprenticed to his father, who is a goldsmith. The books give me a chance to convey some information about medieval crafts and also the history of the time.
Aileen’s first day working at the abbey coincides with the arrival of a Crusader knight who is bringing a gift for the abbey. He is bringing a piece of the True Cross on which Jesus died. Before he can present it at the shrine the relic is stolen and the family of one of Aileen’s friends, Ruth, is accused of the theft. Ruth’s family is Jewish and part of a very small colony of Jews left in the area after the Jews were expelled from St. Edmundsbury by the abbot in 1191.
The story centers around the efforts of Aileen and Robert to exonerate their friends and find the relic.
Each of the books in the St. Edmundsbury series features a particular artifact or craft. Crusader’s Way is about a holy relic that is stolen. Penitent’s Sword is about a sword that was in fact dug up on an archaeological dig not far from Bury St. Edmunds. Bishop’s Pride is about the Bayeux Tapestry.
Some of the characters in this series actually lived. There is a journal that is still in publication written by one of the monks at the abbey in the same time period. I have included several of the people who appear in that journal.
BTW, I don’t know if it makes any difference but this book was a semi-finalist in the 2022 Dante Rosetti Book Awards.
I am taking a break from this series right now and have begun a new series that will not require such intensive historical research. I love my characters, though, so I will come back to them.
Any message for our readers
People in medieval times were much the same as they are today. They did many of the same jobs, they felt the same emotions, they had many of the same prejudices and they worried about the same things. Many of the characters in this book actually lived, and it is my hope that the fictional characters will come alive in the same way as do the historical characters.
About the Author
Anne-Marie Amiel knows the area around St. Edmundsbury, modern-day Bury St. Edmunds, very well. She lived in a village near there for several years after graduating high school in New Zealand and returning to her native England.
Anne-Marie is a history nut and wanted to study archaeology in university after serving in the Women’s Royal Naval Service. She ended up studying law but never gave up her love of historical research. Crusader’s Way was the first in her St. Edmundsbury Mysteries series. The second book, Penitent’s Sword, was released in May, 2022 to be followed in the spring of 2023 by the third installment.
Anne-Marie currently lives in Columbus, Georgia. She is a proud doggie mum, loves to participate in musical theater, and follows the great English tradition of drinking hot tea and knitting. She is no Miss Marple, but she does love a good mystery!
For more information on upcoming books, what she is reading and doggie updates, check out Anne-Marie's website at www.annemarieamiel.com.
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