Through a Dark Mist is a 1991 historical fiction novel by Canadian author Marsha Canham, the first instalment of her "Medieval" trilogy inspired by the Robin Hood legend set in 13th-century England.

While en route to his castle Bloodmoor Keep, Servanne's entourage is waylaid; she and her old maid are taken captive by forest outlaws led by the Black Wolf of Lincoln, a man claiming to be the true Lucien Wardieu.

His associates include kindly former monk Alaric FitzAthelstan, the mischievous dwarf Sparrow, and the secretly female Gillian "Gil" Golden.

Lucien's group leaves with the princess, while he remains behind to fight Etienne in a publicly attended duel in the tournament organized to celebrate the wedding.

"When I began researching the actual stories attributed to Robin of Locksley, there were so many variances and discrepencies [sic] and sheer guesswork, supposition, and rumor it left all manner of doors wide open for my own interpretation of how the man...or men...developed into a legend."

Before writing Through a Dark Mist, Canadian author Marsha Canham had written romantic stories in other historical periods and settings, including on 17th-century pirate ships and in Jacobite-era Scotland.

[1] She had loved the legend since watching the film star Errol Flynn,[2][3] later writing that "there is something about misty forests and outlaws, robbing from the rich to save the poor, and the sound of an arrow thunking into a tree trunk that gets my imagination stirring.

[2] The author began researching stories surrounding Robin of Locksley, but found that "there were so many variances and discrepencies and sheer guesswork, supposition, and rumour it left all manner of doors wide open for my own interpretation of how the man...or men...developed into a legend.

"[1] Soon after, Canham wrote its prologue and decided to create a new character, the Black Wolf of Lincoln, who could "open a door to the possibility that [he] was heroic enough to have sired such a legendary hero" as Robin Hood.

[6] Jane Sullivan, writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, recommended the entire "swashbuckling" trilogy for "hopeless romantics,"[7] while Rebekah Bradford of The Post and Courier called the series an "inventive reimagining.