Jay Ruud is a retired professor of English at the University of Central Arkansas with a Ph.D. in Medieval Literature, now devoting much of his time to fiction writing. He has retold the traditional legend of King Arthur for modern readers as a series of Merlin Mysteries: Fatal Feast, The Knight's Riddle, Lost in the Quagmire, The Bleak and Empty Sea, The Knight of the Cart, and To the Great Deep. He's also written scholarly books, including an Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature (2006), A Critical Companion to Dante (2008), and A Critical Companion to Tolkien (2011), as well as the first full-length study of Chaucer's short poems, "Many a Song and Many a Lecherous Lay": Tradition and Individuality in Chaucer Lyric Poetry (1992), a book that was reissued by Routledge in October 2019 after 27 years. He is the author of the Robin Hood Mystery series, Sleuth of Sherwood (June 2022), Ghoul of Sherwood (December 2022), an Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist, and book 3, Treasure of Sherwood, which will be published by Encircle in June 2024. For the latest news, visit jayruud.com, and you can follow Jay on Facebook @jay.ruud.author, and on Instagram @GildasOfCornwall.