“Purse Strings” is the story of kidnapping and corruption, knights and rusty armor, dusty summer streets, and Sir Thibaut the cripple in service to Basilia, a lovely and savvy Jewish moneylender. You won’t see the ending coming.
“Purse Strings” is set in the 12th century in the French city of Troyes in the county of Champagne. At that time, Troyes was an extremely wealthy and important city, a center of commerce and culture. Today’s old city retains a charming medieval character (see the city’s tourism site), but this image of a medieval street is the Troyes of my story:
Photo courtesy of the talented Vincent van der Pas
A genuine medieval purse, excavated in London, < /br>
from the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme.
If you’re curious, and would like to read more, here are some of the sources (French and English) I used for research: bibliography.
The story is forthcoming in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.
