P. C Doherty

Robert de Payens, grandson of Eleanor, one of the co-founders of the Temple, and Englishman Edward Sendal find themselves caught up in a murder mystery when Raymond, Count of Tripoli, is brutally assassinated.

As night sets in, Chaucer's weary pilgrims find themselves in a Kent copse, rumored to be haunted. Huddling around the fire, they persuade the Clerk of Oxford to tell a ghostly tale of love and death will further chill their blood... It's May Day 1381, and Beatrice Arrowner is on her way to Ravenscroft Castle to share in the feasting with the clerk, Ralph Mortimer. But the sinister events of the last few days soon cast a cloud over the festivities....

"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 to make her move. But new dangers are emerging. En route to England is a band of Spanish mercenaries known as the Garduna. With no allegiance to prince, prelate or people, they...

"January, 1381. Guests of the Regent, John of Gaunt, Brother Athelstan and Sir John Cranston have been attending a mystery play performed by the Straw Men, Gaunt's personal acting troupe, when the evening's entertainment is rudely interrupted by the sudden, violent deaths of two of Gaunt's VIP guests, their severed heads left on stage. The Regent orders Athelstan to find out who committed such a heinous act, leading Athelstan to tackle his most baffling...

London, 1382. The Crown's treasury, the most secure chamber in the kingdom, has been robbed, and the five guards brutally killed. Brother Athelstan is set to investigate, but he has problems of his own. A body is found in the nave of his parish church, identified as a craftsman who fashioned the complex locks to the royal treasure chamber...