The Invention of Fire

“The invention of handguns presages a radical change in warfare” in an acclaimed author’s “skillful and engrossing second medieval whodunit” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

The author of the highly praised historical thriller A Burnable Book imagines the beginnings of gun violence in the Western world. 

London, 1386: A mass murder has taken place within the city walls. Sixteen corpses have been dumped where they are sure to be found, bearing wounds like none seen before. John Gower is summoned to investigate the killings even as the ruthless mayor of London seeks to thwart an open inquiry for reasons unknown. Gower learns that the men have fallen victim to handgonnes, new and terrifying weapons that threaten to change the future of war. Challenged by deception and treachery on all sides, Gower struggles against his failing vision even as his inquiries take him from the City’s labyrinthine slums to the port of Calais to the forests of Kent, where his friend Geoffrey Chaucer serves as justice of the peace. As Gower strives to discover the source of the new guns and the identity of those who wielded them, he must risk everything to reveal the truth—and prevent a more devastating massacre on London’s crowded streets.

“Beautifully crafted . . . Well-paced, multilayered and with finely drawn characters, quite simply, medieval thrillers don’t come better than this.” —Edinburgh Evening News

“A fascinating, bawdy, and quite fun book.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer

“John Gower is the perfect narrator and amateur sleuth . . . [Holsinger] delivers up a world where even the filth is colorful.” —The New York Times Book Review