Paul Doherty
In 1376, the Black Prince dies of a terrible sickness, closely followed by his father, King Edward III in 1377. The crown of England is left in the hands of a mere boy, and the great nobles gather like hungry wolves round the empty throne.
Soon the prelates of the church and the powerful Merchant Princes of London are drawn in. One of these, Sir
...November, 1471. With Edward of York on the English throne and her son, Henry Tudor, in exile in Brittany, the newly-widowed Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, is alone, without protectors. All she can do is wait and watch, planning for a time when she's in a position...
1380. As the king's parliament debates whether to grant money supplies to the Regent for his war against the French, John of Gaunt orders Sir John Cranston and Brother Athelstan to investigate the murder of the Shrewsbury representatives, as the assassin must be caught before parliament suspects the Regent himself. Unfortunately, Sir John and Brother Athelstan have their own problems to deal with: the coroner is puzzled by a thief stealing cats
...December, 1377. A great frost has London in its icy grip; even the Thames is frozen bank to bank. The Constable of the Tower of London, Sir Ralph Witton, is found murdered in a cold, bleak chamber in the North Bastion. The door is still locked from the inside and guarded by trusted retainers. So how did the assassins slip across a frozen moat to climb the sheer wall to commit such a dreadful crime? Appointed to investigate, Brother Athelstan and
...It's the summer of 1380 and the corpse of Edwin Chapler, clerk of the Office of the Green Wax of the Chancery, has been pulled from the Thames: Chapler has drowned, but not before he received a vicious blow to the back of the head. Then Bartholomew Drayton, a usurer and money-lender, is found dead in his strongroom, a crossbow firmly embedded in his chest: a real mystery because the windowless strongroom was locked and barred from the inside. So
...Autumn, 1379. The power of the crown is invested in John of Gaunt, and the kingdom is seething with discontent. The French are attacking the southern ports and peasants are planning a revolt organised by a mysterious leader who proclaims himself 'Ira Dei', the Anger of God. His plans plunged into chaos by a series of bloody murders, Gaunt turns to Sr John Cranston to catch the assassin and recover a vanished king's ransom in gold. Together, Cranston
...Summer, 1379. Sir John Cranston, coroner of the city of London, is trapped into a wager with Signor Gian Galeazzo, Lord of Cremona, when challenged to resolve a certain murder mystery within two weeks. Men have been found dead in the scarlet chamber of one of Cremona's manors. They have no mark upon them; they have neither drunk nor eaten poison; there are no secret passageways or entrances to the room. And they all have an awful expression of
...Winter, 1379, and a sea of trouble is besetting England. French privateers attack the southern coast on a path to threaten London itself. In response, an English flotilla of warships, including God's Bright Light, drops anchor in the Thames. During the night, however, the first mate and two of the ship's crew disappear without trace. Summoned to resolve the mysteries on board, Sir John Cranston and Brother Athelstan finds themselves in the
...In 1376, the famed Black Prince died of a terrible rotting sickness, closely followed by his father, King Edward III. The crown of England is left in the hands of a mere boy, the future Richard II, and the great nobles gather like hungry wolves around the empty throne. As a terrible power struggle threatens the country, one of London's powerful merchant princes is foully murdered and Coroner Sir John Cranston and Dominican monk Brother Athelstan
...After the discovery of three savagely murdered bodies in his parish, Brother Athelstan finds himself involved in the hunt for a dangerous killer. It is clear that two of the victims, a whore and a preacher, surprised an assassin who was then forced to kill them. But who the third victim is, and why someone has gone to so much trouble to kill him, remains a mystery. And can it really have any connection with Sir John Cranston's attempt to save a
...12) Bloodstone
An intriguing new Brother Athelstan historical mystery
December, 1380. When the corpse of Sir Robert Kilverby is discovered in a locked room, Brother Athelstan accompanies the King's coroner to investigate. For Sir Robert had in his possession a priceless relic, a sacred bloodstone, which has now disappeared. Did Sir Robert die of natural causes or was he murdered? Athelstan is sceptical of rumours of a curse hanging over Sir Robert, but when
...In the summer of 1380 a French captain is murdered in Hawkmere Manor—a lonely, gloomy dwelling place, otherwise known as the 'Devil's Domain', which is used by Regent John of Gaunt to house French prisoners captured during the bloody battles waged between the French and the English on the Narrow Seas. Sir John Cranston and Brother Athelstan are summoned to investigate the mysterious death but their path is riddled with obstacles. How could
...In the late autumn of 1380, Brother Athelstan is busy enough. He and his parish council are preparing for the annual Christmas mystery play when a series of brutal murders occur at a Southwark tavern. Two young whores are found slain but their deaths are only the beginning of a series of gruesome killings which occur around the parish of St Erconwald's. A whole host of mysterious characters assemble to this pageant of murder: the Misericord, master
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