Maiden Castle (novel) Maiden Castle (novel) Maiden Castle by John Cowper Powys was first published in 1936 and is the last of Powys so-called Wessex novels, following "Wolf Solent" (1929), "A Glastonbury Romance" (1932), "Weymouth Sands" (1934). Powys was an admirer of Thomas Hardy, and these novels are set in Somerset and Dorset, part of Hardy's mythical Wessex. American scholar Richard Maxwell describes these four novels "as remarkably successful with the reading public of his time". "Maiden Castle" is set in Dorchester, Dorset Thomas Hardy's Casterbridge, and which Powys intended to be a "rival" to Hardy's "Mayor of Casterbridge". Glen Cavaliero describes Dorchester
Kate Ellis (author) Kate Ellis (author) Kate Ellis is a British author of crime fiction, best known for a series of detective novels, which blends history with mystery, featuring policeman Wesley Peterson. Ellis' first novel, "The Merchant's House", published in 1998, received positive reviews and was chosen as one of the ten best summer reads by "Woman's Weekly". She has since written 21 more novels in this series, many to critical acclaim. Ellis has also written five novels set in Yorkshire as part of the Joe Plantagenet series and an historical crime novel, "The Devil's Priest", which is set in 16th century Liverpool.