aul and Carla Doherty were kind enough to invite me (amongst others, of course) to the launch party for his new series, THE TEMPLAR (Headline Books £19.99 hbk).  It was held at Trinity School in Essex where Paul is the headmaster. Amongst those attending were Barry and Diana Norman (Ariana Franklin), Mike and Allison Ripley, bookseller Ralph Spurrier and Vicki Mellor representing Headline Books. The hall had displays of Knights Templar information and an overhead projection show of Paul’s previous books.  I felt that I had to pay attention as he might ask questions later.  Paul’s brief but illuminating talk opened the evening after which we enjoyed the wine and excellent buffet.  Paul mentioned that the book had already sold 10,000 copies in hardback and was a departure in style from his other historical novels. At the end of the evening Paul signed books for his guests and also a big box for Ralph’s own Post Mortem books. A surprise for Barry Norman later on in the evening when Mike Ripley whipped out a pen and gave it to Barry “for a signing session”.  He was a bit puzzled until Mike pulled out a jar of Barry’s own brand of pickled onions, and said “there you go.”  A big thanks to Paul and Carla for such a great evening.  I’ve been a big fan of Paul’s work since his early days of being published by Robert Hale. He is a man of such immense energy, I just don’t know where he gets it from. I can highly recommend The Templar, or any of his books, and to those of you who have not read Paul Doherty – where have you been?

Synopsis Amazon:
The Templars exploded onto the public consciousness with Dan Brown's THE DA VINCI CODE, now journey with Paul Doherty to 1095 and experience the founding of the Templar Order in all its epic and brutal detail. 1095 and crusading fervour has swept Europe. Christ's fief of Jerusalem has been seized by the Infidels. The Frankish Knights of the West are to march east to liberate the Holy City. Hugh de Payens and Godefroi of St Omer, the soon-to-be founders of the Templar Order,and Hugh's younger sister, Eleanor, leave the security of their homes in Burgundy, France, with a plan to join Count Raymond of Toulouse's army, and march across the known world to Jerusalem. Follow the crusaders as they march through Europe into the glories of Byzantium and onto Syria. Witness the hardships, bloodshed and trickery on their treacherous travels to the Holy Land and know that though the crusaders' journey, and this novel, will end with their entry into the Holy City, the Crusades have yet to begin in earnest.

Read Mike Stotter's review of The Templar
[ archive.shotsmag.co.uk/reviews2007/reviews1207/templar.html ]