The Alyce Chaucer series are history mysteries inspired by the tomb of the granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Alyce Chaucer lived from 1404 to 1475, married profitably three times, but lost each of her noble husbands to a violent death. After the horrific murder of her third husband William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, she chose to spend the last twenty-five years of her life as a widow, enjoying the moated palace she and her last husband had built in Ewelme, near Wallingford, Oxfordshire and overseeing the almshouses and school (both still perfectly preserved). There is evidence that she was an independently-minded woman with decided opinions. Her elaborate tomb in the Oxfordshire church of St Mary’s Ewelme is topped by an elegant but unflattering alabaster effigy, under which lies a shockingly realistic carved cadaver, arched in agony. Inventories of her possessions reveal that she had a magnificent collection of tapestries and was unusually interested in literature. Tantalisingly little more is known about Alyce, so rather than writing a patchy biography full of guesswork, I decided to allow my imagination full rein.