Sam Thomas | Midwives, Witches, and Murderers

When I tell people that I am writing a series of mysteries about midwives, people often look confused. "A midwife solving mysteries?" they ask. "That doesn't make much sense. Why would you do that?" And I understand this reaction, because for many years I would have said the same thing.

For many people, the image of midwives in medieval and Renaissance Europe is not a flattering one. They were decrepit, old crones with no training, who lived on the margins of society and probably dabbled in witchcraft. In this picture, Europe's mothers suffered at their hands until the rise of modern medicine and the arrival of doctors in the delivery room.

There is only one problem with this picture: it is utterly incorrect.

Curiously (and embarrassingly), historians did not figure this out until a historian named David Harley dug into the records of witch trials. There he did indeed find midwives, but were not among accused, but testifying for the prosecution. Midwives were not witches - they were witch-hunters!

Not only this, when historians - myself included - started looking more closely at real midwives, they discovered that they were not poor or marginalized. Rather they were among the most respected women in the community.  Many midwives, including Bridget Hodgson (on whom I based the protagonist of THE MIDWIFE'S TALE and THE HARLOT'S TALE), were quite wealthy, and it is not uncommon to find midwives married to clergymen, which is hardly the mark of poverty and disdain.

As if this weren't enough, it turns out that midwives also were key to prosecuting a variety of crimes, including infanticide, rape, and witchcraft.

The last of these is the most surprising, so I'll explain. According to medieval demonologists, every witch had a "familiar" or an "imp." This creature - sometimes disguised as a black cat! - was Satan's agent, and would work mischief on the witch's behalf. In order to survive, the Devil's Familiar had to suck the witch's blood, which left an unnatural mark on the witch's body. It thus fell to the midwife to find the witch's mark, because she was the expert on women's bodies!

Thus, rather than being the perfect villain, a midwife makes a perfect sleuth, and that is why I write about midwives.

THE HARLOT'S TALE

It is August, 1645, one year since York fell into Puritan hands. As the city suffers through a brutal summer heat, Bridget Hodgson and Martha Hawkins are drawn into a murder investigation more frightening than their last. In order to appease God's wrath—and end the heat-wave—the city's overlords have launched a brutal campaign to whip the city's sinners into godliness. But for someone in York, this is not enough. First a prostitute and her client are found stabbed to death, then a pair of adulterers are beaten and strangled. York's sinners have been targeted for execution.

Bridget and Martha—assisted once again by Will, Bridget's good-hearted nephew—race to find the killer even as he adds more bodies to his tally. The list of suspects is long: Hezekiah Ward, a fire and brimstone preacher new to York; Ward's son, Praise-God, whose intensity mirrors his father's; John Stubb, one of Ward's fanatic followers, whose taste for blood may not have been sated by his time in Parliament's armies. Or could the killer be closer to home? Will's brother Joseph is no stranger to death, and he shares the Wards' dreams of driving sin from the city.

To find the killer, Bridget, Martha, and Will must uncover the city's most secret sins, and hope against hope that the killer does not turn his attention in their direction.