N.L. Holmes

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About N.L. Holmes

N.L. Holmes is the pen name of a professional archaeologist who received her doctorate from Bryn Mawr College. She has excavated in Greece and in Israel, and taught ancient history and humanities at the university level for many years. She has always had a passion for books, and in childhood, she and her cousin (also a writer today) used to write stories for fun.

The inspiration for her Bronze Age novels came with an assignment she gave to her students one day: here are the only documents we have telling us about a certain royal divorce in Ugarit in the 13th century. How much can we say about what happened? It quickly became apparent that almost anything we might come up with was as much fiction as historiography!

Today, since their son is grown, she lives with her husband, three cats and a dog. They split their time between Florida and northern France, where she gardens, weaves, plays the violin, dances, and occasionally drives a jog-cart. And reads, of course.

Ashley Gardner

Graham Brack

J. G. Lewis

Jennifer Ashley

Sarah Woodbury

Nev March

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Books By N.L. Holmes

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Bird in a Snare (The Lord Hani Mysteries Book 1) Mar 21, 2020

by N.L. Holmes

( 142 )

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When Hani, an Egyptian diplomat under Akhenaten, is sent to investigate the murder of a useful bandit leader in Syria, he encounters corruption, tangled relationships, and yet more murder. His investigation is complicated by the new king’s religious reforms, which have struck Hani’s own family to the core. Hani’s mission is to amass enough evidence for his superiors to prosecute the wrongdoers despite the king’s protection—but not just every superior can be trusted. And maybe not even the king!

Other Formats: Paperback

The Crocodile Makes No Sound (The Lord Hani Mysteries Book 2) May 6, 2020

by N.L. Holmes

( 69 )

$5.99

Four years into Akhenaten’s new regime, the dissatisfaction of those who practiced the old religion of Amen-Ra is growing. Hani, a diplomat already under the king’s surveillance because of the disappearance of his firebrand Amen priest brother-in-law, gets drawn into an investigation for the Beloved Royal Wife, who is being blackmailed. Meanwhile, the new vassal king of A’amu, lodged at Hani’s house until the king grants him an audience, is showing himself to be none too loyal. Hani must walk the line between his oath to the king and his conscience.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Paperback

Scepter of Flint (The Lord Hani Mysteries Book 3) Jul 13, 2020

by N.L. Holmes

( 67 )

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During the Great Jubilee of the Aten, a mysterious series of tomb robberies takes place, and witnesses begin to die. With plague ravaging the palace, where Hani’s daughter is a physician, and Egypt’s ally, Naharin, collapsing into the hands of a usurper, Hani must make sense of what is happening. And who in high places is his real enemy.

Other Formats: Paperback

The North Wind Descends (The Lord Hani Mysteries Book 4) Oct 9, 2020

by N.L. Holmes

( 63 )

$5.99

Hani doesn’t know what to make of it when the king starts honoring him, but he must still find the man who killed a foreign ambassador right under the roof of the Egyptian commissioner in Kumidi—a man whose past intersects bizarrely with Hani’s. And then, the queen of the new coregent has a special task for him which may involve dragging Hani’s nineteen-year-old daughter into court politics. He must find a way to see justice done and yet protect his family… and his conscience.

Other Formats: Paperback

The Sun at Twilight (Empire at Twilight Book 4) Feb 21, 2021

by N.L. Holmes

$5.99

In the twilight years of the Hittite Empire (1230s BC), Tudhaliya IV comes to the throne as a usurper's younger son, determined to rule according to the traditional values of justice and clemency, despite the harder advice of his ambitious mother and his questionably loyal older brothers. When his cousin Kurunta, with whom he was raised as someone dearer than a brother, decides his own claim to the throne is stronger than Tudhaliya's, the latter must decide whether to apply the brutal pragmatism of his advisors or risk appearing weak, and how to manage to leave his own son an empire that is finally free from civil war. The cost will be the sacrifice of his deepest friendship.

The Lightning Horse (Empire at Twilight Book 1) Feb 26, 2020

by N.L. Holmes

( 27 )

$5.99

When a young Hittite charioteer discovers that the chariot accident that killed his father and maimed his grandfather was sabotage aimed at the king, he sets out to find the killer. Facing the loss of everyone he holds dear, he learns that good and evil are often not what they seem, and he must struggle to adjust to a new identity.

Other Formats: Paperback

The Singer and Her Song (Empire at Twilight Book 2) May 6, 2020

by N.L. Holmes

( 19 )

$5.99

Uqnitum is a singer from a famous musical lineage in the kingdom of Mitanni. When the fall of their city to the Assyrians costs her the life of her husband and her youngest child, she and her pregnant, widowed daughter flee to the court of Ugarit. Haunted by guilt over her part in her husband’s death, Uqnitum’s increasingly unhinged personality becomes dangerous to the peace of her remaining family. Only by succumbing to her weakness does she learn the real nature of strength.

Other Formats: Paperback

The Queen's Dog (Empire at Twilight Book 3) Jun 18, 2020

by N.L. Holmes

( 18 )

$5.99

In the Bronze Age Syrian kingdom of Ugarit, a eunuch slave mistakenly believes his mistress the queen loves him, so when asked to spy on her under threat of punishment, he finds a way to avoid it. When she shows she cares nothing for him, he justifies reporting her disloyal activities but can’t escape agonies of conscience. As her sentence of divorce turns into execution, he decides he must avenge her and expurgate his own guilt.

Other Formats: Paperback

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