A chilling, mesmerizing novel that combines the best of modern forensic thrillers with the detail and drama of historical fiction. In medieval Cambridge, England, four children have been murdered. The crimes are immediately blamed on the town's Jewish community, taken as evidence that Jews...  more

A chilling, mesmerizing novel that combines the best of modern forensic thrillers with the detail and drama of historical fiction. In medieval Cambridge, England, four children have been murdered. The crimes are immediately blamed on the town's Jewish community, taken as evidence that Jews sacrifice Christian children in blasphemous ceremonies. To save them from the rioting mob, the king places the Cambridge Jews under his protection and hides them in a castle fortress. King Henry I is no friend of the Jews-or anyone, really-but he is invested in their fate. Without the taxes received from Jewish merchants, his treasuries would go bankrupt. Hoping scientific investigation will exonerate the Jews, Henry calls on his cousin the King of Sicily-whose subjects include the best medical experts in Europe-and asks for his finest "master of the art of death," an early version of the medical examiner. The Italian doctor chosen for the task is a young prodigy from the University of Salerno. But her name is Adelia-the king has been sent a mistress of the art of death. Adelia and her companions-Simon, a Jew, and Mansur, a Moor-travel to England to unravel the mystery of the Cambridge murders, which turn out to be the work of a serial killer, most likely one who has been on Crusade with the king. In a backward and superstitious country like England, Adelia must conceal her true identity as a doctor in order to avoid accusations of witchcraft. Along the way, she is assisted by Sir Rowley Picot, one of the king's tax collectors, a man with a personal stake in the investigation. Rowley may be a needed friend, or the fiend for whom they are searching. As Adelia's investigation takes her into Cambridge's shadowy river paths and behind the closed doors of its churches and nunneries, the hunt intensifies and the killer prepares to strike again . .

Once the king's captain of archers, now he must penetrate a poisoner's secrets... Christmastide, 1363-and, at an abbey in York, two pilgrims die mysteriously dead of an herbal remedy. Suspicious, the Archbishop sends for Owen Archer, a Welshman with the charm of the devil, who's lost one eye...  more

Once the king's captain of archers, now he must penetrate a poisoner's secrets... Christmastide, 1363-and, at an abbey in York, two pilgrims die mysteriously dead of an herbal remedy. Suspicious, the Archbishop sends for Owen Archer, a Welshman with the charm of the devil, who's lost one eye to the wars in France and must make a new career as an honest spy. Masquerading as an apprentice to Apothecary Nicholas Wilton, whose shop dispensed the fatal potion, Owen's dark curls, leather eyepatch and gold earring intrigue Wilton's wife. But is this lovely woman a murderess? and what links the Wiltons to bumbling Brother Wulfstan, ascetic Archdeacon Anselm and his weaselly agent Potter Digby, and the ragged midwife Magda the Riverwoman? Answers as slippery as the frozen cobblestones draw Owen into a dangerous drama of old scandals and tragedies, obsession and unholy love... The Apothecary Rose marks the arrival of a bold and quick-witted detective in this expertly detailed, engrossing tale of medieval life-and death.

Epiphany, 1193. Eleanor of Aquitaine sits upon England's throne. Her beloved son Richard Lionheart is missing, presumed dead -- and the court whispers that her younger son John is plotting to seize the crown. Meanwhile, on the snowy highroad from Winchester, a destitute young man falls...  more

Epiphany, 1193. Eleanor of Aquitaine sits upon England's throne. Her beloved son Richard Lionheart is missing, presumed dead -- and the court whispers that her younger son John is plotting to seize the crown. Meanwhile, on the snowy highroad from Winchester, a destitute young man falls heir to a blood-stained letter, pressed into his hand by a dying man. The missive becomes Justin de Quincy's passport into the queen's confidence -- and into the heart of danger, as he pursues a cunning murderer and jousts with secret traitors in Eleanor's court of intrigue and mystery. . . .

Catherine LeVendeur is a young scholar come to conquer her sin of pride at the Convent of the Paraclete, famous for learning, prayer, and its abbess, the fabled Heloise. When a manuscript the convent produced for the great Abbe Suger disappears, rumors surface saying the book contains...  more

Catherine LeVendeur is a young scholar come to conquer her sin of pride at the Convent of the Paraclete, famous for learning, prayer, and its abbess, the fabled Heloise. When a manuscript the convent produced for the great Abbe Suger disappears, rumors surface saying the book contains sacrilegious passages and will be used to condemn Heloise's famous lover, Peter Abelard.To save her Order, and protect all she holds dear, Catherine must find the manuscript and discover who altered the text. She will risk disgrace, the wrath of her family and the Church, and confront an evil older than Time itself--and, if she isn't careful, lose her immortal soul.With Death Comes As Epiphany, the first in the Catherine LeVendeur mystery series, medievalist Sharan Newman has woven dark mystery and sparkling romance into a fascinating and richly detailed tapestry of everyday life in twelfth-century France, and one of the most moving love stories of all time: Abelard and Heloise.

In the remote Welsh mountain village of Gwytherin lies the grave of Saint Winifred Now, in 1137, the ambitious head of Shrewsbury Abbey has decided to acquire the sacred remains for his Benedictine order. Native Welshman Brother Cadfael is sent on the expedition to translate and finds the rustic...  more

In the remote Welsh mountain village of Gwytherin lies the grave of Saint Winifred Now, in 1137, the ambitious head of Shrewsbury Abbey has decided to acquire the sacred remains for his Benedictine order. Native Welshman Brother Cadfael is sent on the expedition to translate and finds the rustic villagers of Gwytherin passionately divided by the Benedictine's offer for the saint's relics. Canny, wise, and all too worldly, he isn't surprised when this taste for bones leads to bloody murder. The leading opponent to moving the grave has been shot dead with a mysterious arrow, and some say Winifred herself held the bow. Brother Cadfael knows a carnal hand did the killing. But he doesn't know that his plan to unearth a murderer may dig up a case of love and justice...where the wages of sin may be scandal or Cadfael's own ruin.

It is the 2nd century A.D., and Libertus, a freedman and pavement-maker, has a reputation for solving crime. When his influential patron asks for his help in a politically-sensitive murder case, Libertus is in no position to refuse. When the main suspect is also found murdered, the truth seems...  more

It is the 2nd century A.D., and Libertus, a freedman and pavement-maker, has a reputation for solving crime. When his influential patron asks for his help in a politically-sensitive murder case, Libertus is in no position to refuse. When the main suspect is also found murdered, the truth seems elusive.

Hugh of Singleton, fourth son of a minor knight, has been educated as a clerk, usually a prelude to taking holy orders. However, feeling no certain calling despite a lively faith, he turns to the profession of surgeon, training in Paris and then hanging out his sign in Oxford. A local lord asks...  more

Hugh of Singleton, fourth son of a minor knight, has been educated as a clerk, usually a prelude to taking holy orders. However, feeling no certain calling despite a lively faith, he turns to the profession of surgeon, training in Paris and then hanging out his sign in Oxford. A local lord asks him to track the killer of a young woman whose bones have been found in the castle cess pit. She is identified as the impetuous missing daughter of a local blacksmith, and her young man, whom she had provoked very publicly, is in due course arrested and sentenced at the Oxford assizes. From there the tale unfolds, with graphic medical procedures, droll medieval wit, misdirection, ambition, romantic distractions and a consistent underlying Christian compassion. Melvin R. Starr has spent many years teaching history, and has studied medieval medicine and medieval English. He lives in Michigan.

One fine day, A.D. 70, comely blonde Sosia Camillina quite literally runs into Marcus Didius Falco on the steps of the Forum.  It seems Sosia is on the lam from a couple of street toughs, and after a quick and dirty rescue, P.I. Falco wants to know why. Falco finds out that Sosia, the...  more

One fine day, A.D. 70, comely blonde Sosia Camillina quite literally runs into Marcus Didius Falco on the steps of the Forum.  It seems Sosia is on the lam from a couple of street toughs, and after a quick and dirty rescue, P.I. Falco wants to know why. Falco finds out that Sosia, the nice of a highly placed senator, hold the secret to a stockpile of silver pigs -- ingots intended for no good use.  Hoping for future favors from Sosia's powerful uncle, Falco embarks on an intricate case of smuggling, murder, and treason that reaches into the palace itself.  And if he does not tread lightly, the treacherous puzzle of the silver pigs could buy him a one-way ticket to his own funeral pyre...

Midwife and healer Agatha Kyteler is regarded as a witch by the superstitious villagers of Wefford, yet she has no shortage of callers, from the humblest villein to the most elegant and wealthy in the area. But when Agatha's body is found frozen and mutilated in a hedge one wintry morning, there...  more

Midwife and healer Agatha Kyteler is regarded as a witch by the superstitious villagers of Wefford, yet she has no shortage of callers, from the humblest villein to the most elegant and wealthy in the area. But when Agatha's body is found frozen and mutilated in a hedge one wintry morning, there seems to be no clues as to who could be responsible. Not until a local youth runs away and a hue and cry is raised. Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, is not convinced of the youth's guilt and soon manages to persuade his close friend Simon Puttock, bailiff of Lydford Castle, to help him continue with the investigation. As they endeavor to find the true culprit, the darker side of the village, with its suspicion and jealousy, emerges. And what is driving the young foreigner, son of a nobleman, to disappear down towards the moors?

After eight years of captivity in the Holy Land, Templar Bascot de Matins escapes with injuries to his body and soul. Now on a sojourn at Lincoln Castle, he hopes to regain his strength, and mend his waning faith -- but not even the peace of God's countryside is safe from the mortal crimes...  more

After eight years of captivity in the Holy Land, Templar Bascot de Matins escapes with injuries to his body and soul. Now on a sojourn at Lincoln Castle, he hopes to regain his strength, and mend his waning faith -- but not even the peace of God's countryside is safe from the mortal crimes of man... With Lincoln's midsummer fair about to begin, four victims are found slain in the town alehouse. Called upon for assistance in the investigation, Bascot discovers that what appears to be the grisly end to a drunken row is in fact a cunning and baffling crime. As newcomers flock to Lincoln for its midsummer reverie, it becomes easier for the killer to get lost in the crowds. But when more victims fall, Bascot tracks his quarry from bawdy house to baron's keep, once again risking his life for the justice of God's will.

To the priory a lady came for mischief... and for murder. It is the year of Our Lord's grace 1431, and the nuns of England's St. Frideswide sweetly chant their Paternosters behind gracious, trellised walls. But their quiet lives are shattered by the unwelcome visit of the...  more

To the priory a lady came for mischief... and for murder. It is the year of Our Lord's grace 1431, and the nuns of England's St. Frideswide sweetly chant their Paternosters behind gracious, trellised walls. But their quiet lives are shattered by the unwelcome visit of the hard-drinking, blaspheming dowager Lady Ermentrude, with her retinue of lusty maids and men, baying hounds, and even a pet monkey in tow. The lady demands wine, a feast, and her niece, the frail and saintly novice Thomasine. What she gets is her own strange and sudden death. Sister Frevisse, hosteler of the priory and amateur sleuth, fears murder. The most likely suspect is pious Thomasine... but Frevisse alone detects a clever web spun to entangle an innocent nun in the most unholy of passions -- and the deadliest of deeds. In the tradition of Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael novels, Sister Frevisse is sinfully good at discerning the mysteries of the soul... and solving the crimes of the human heart.

When his band of traveling players are taken in by a patron, Joliffe and company find that murder has taken their place in the spotlight -- and it's up to them to catch a killer in the act.

It is late summer in the year 1270 and England is as weary as its aging king, Henry lll. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs like smoke over the land. Even in the small priory of Tyndal on the remote East Anglian coast, the monks and nuns of the Order...  more

It is late summer in the year 1270 and England is as weary as its aging king, Henry lll. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs like smoke over the land. Even in the small priory of Tyndal on the remote East Anglian coast, the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevraud long for a return to tranquil routine. Their hopes are dashed, however, when the young and inexperienced Eleanor of Wynethorpe is appointed their new prioress over someone of their own choosing. Nor are Eleanor's own prayers for a peaceful transition answered. Only a day after her arrival, a brutally murdered monk is found in the cloister gardens, and Brother Thomas, a young priest with a troubled past, arrives to bring her a more personal grief. Now she must not only struggle to gain the respect of her terrified and resentful flock, but also cope with violence, lust and greed in a placed dedicated to love and peace.

When an unidentified body is discovered in the harbor town of Axmouth, the county coroner Sir John de Wolfe is summoned to investigate. The manner of the young man's death is a matter of some dispute, but it was clearly no accident. In the ensuing murder investigation, Sir John is frustrated...  more

When an unidentified body is discovered in the harbor town of Axmouth, the county coroner Sir John de Wolfe is summoned to investigate. The manner of the young man's death is a matter of some dispute, but it was clearly no accident. In the ensuing murder investigation, Sir John is frustrated by what appears to be a conspiracy of silence among the seamen and townsfolk. There are many inhabitants of Axmouth who seem willing to go to extreme lengths to ensure that the shocking truth behind the death remains hidden. Sir John will need courage, cunning, and determination if he is to solve the case and escape from the town with his life.

This sparkling medieval mystery debut introduces an appealing sleuth, Regent Master William Falconer of Aristotle College, Oxford University, who calls himself a "deductionist." When not tutoring young clods, Falconer, who keeps a live owl in his rooms, experiments wth flying devices....  more

This sparkling medieval mystery debut introduces an appealing sleuth, Regent Master William Falconer of Aristotle College, Oxford University, who calls himself a "deductionist." When not tutoring young clods, Falconer, who keeps a live owl in his rooms, experiments wth flying devices. The year is 1264, but Falconer, a disciple of Friar Bacon, is ahead of his time, notably with his heretical belief, drawn from his observations, that the earth's surface must be curved. The stabbing murder of Margaret Gebetz, Master John Fyssh's French servant girl, is followed by the murders of three students. What connection, if any, do the slayings have to the visit to Oxford of Prince Edward, weak King Henry III's son, who is being wooed by rebellious barons? What is the nature of the small book that illiterate Margaret possessed and which she believed would protect her? Thirteenth-century Oxford, with its political entanglements, its town vs. gown clashes and suspicion of Jews, comes vividly to life in Englishman Morson's tight, absorbing tale, first in a projected series. -- Publishers Weekly

Divorced and down on his luck, Gaius Petreius Ruso has made the rash decision to seek his fortune in an inclement outpost of the Roman Empire, namely Britannia. In a moment of weakness, after a straight thirtysix- hour shift at the army hospital, he succumbs to compassion and rescues an injured...  more

Divorced and down on his luck, Gaius Petreius Ruso has made the rash decision to seek his fortune in an inclement outpost of the Roman Empire, namely Britannia. In a moment of weakness, after a straight thirtysix- hour shift at the army hospital, he succumbs to compassion and rescues an injured slave girl, Tilla, from the hands of her abusive owner. Now he has a new problem: a slave who won’t talk and can’t cook, and drags trouble in her wake. Before he knows it, Ruso is caught in the middle of an investigation into the deaths of prostitutes working out of the local bar. Now Ruso must summon all his forensic knowledge to find a killer who may be after him next. Published in the UK as Medicus (Ruso) and the Disappearing Dancing Girls.

In 1350 Cambridge lies ravaged by the Black Death.  Plague victims fill its graveyards, hunger haunts its filthy alleys, and superstitious folk blame the Church.  Crime flourishes, too:  three harlots are found with slit throats and branded feet, a friar dies rifling a strongbox...  more

In 1350 Cambridge lies ravaged by the Black Death.  Plague victims fill its graveyards, hunger haunts its filthy alleys, and superstitious folk blame the Church.  Crime flourishes, too:  three harlots are found with slit throats and branded feet, a friar dies rifling a strongbox full of college chronicles, and the vice chancellor of the university vanishes from his sick chamber along with all its furnishings. Now the chancellor calls on the deductive skill of Matthew Bartholomew, Master of Medicine.  Busy enough already with the teaching and practice of controversial new techniques learned from an Arabian physician, Bartholomew welcomes the investigative help of portly Brother Michael -- a shrewd and merry monk, not unduly shocked by sins of the flesh.  And soon they are on a tangled and murderous trail of conspiracy and obsession -- from an exotic poison to a surge of devil worship, from a grisly exhumation to a sweetheart's dying words.

Meet Judge Dee, the detective lauded as the "Sherlock Holmes of ancient China" In the spirit of ancient Chinese detective novels, Judge Dee is challenged by three cases. First, he must solve the mysterious murder of Pure Jade, a young girl living on Half Moon Street. All the...  more

Meet Judge Dee, the detective lauded as the "Sherlock Holmes of ancient China" In the spirit of ancient Chinese detective novels, Judge Dee is challenged by three cases. First, he must solve the mysterious murder of Pure Jade, a young girl living on Half Moon Street. All the evidence points to the guilt of her lover, but Judge Dee has his doubts. Dee also solves the mystery of a deserted temple and that of a group of monks' terrific success with a cure for barren women.

"Today's letter was not a summons to serve Queen Elizabeth. It came from Lancashire. John Bexwith, my steward at Appleton Manor, is dead." Susanna frowned, surprised that this news should have affected her husband so strongly. "The man was quite elderly," she said...  more

"Today's letter was not a summons to serve Queen Elizabeth. It came from Lancashire. John Bexwith, my steward at Appleton Manor, is dead." Susanna frowned, surprised that this news should have affected her husband so strongly. "The man was quite elderly," she said hesitantly, "was he not?" "Your memory is excellent," Robert told her, absently tucking an unruly lock of dark brown hair back up under her brocaded cap. "He was found face down in a marrow-bone pie." With that incredible statement, Robert placed the letter in his wife's outstretched hand. Face Down in the Marrow-Bone Pie is a delightfully cozy Elizabethan mystery introducing Susanna, Lady Appleton. When her husband's steward dies in a unique, ignominious, and highly suspicious manner, Susanna takes advantage of her husband's absence on a political mission for Queen Elizabeth to investigate Bexwith's mysterious demise. The serving wench who found Bexwith claims that he was frightened to death by a ghost, but Susanna can think of several poisons that could have been concealed in the marrow-bone pie. (Susanna is something of an expert on poisons, having been inspired by her sister's fatal encounter with some poisonous berries to write a cautionary herbal for housewives.) Even if Bexwith was poisoned, was it accidental or intentional? As if the case weren't complicated enough, Susanna must also unmask a "ghost"-- or are the ghost and the poisoner one and the same? Kathy Lynn Emerson's debut Elizabethan mystery will delight as it introduces you to a sixteenth-century husband's worst nightmare: an intelligent, no-nonsense wife who happens to know hundreds of poisons.

When beautiful, wealthy Yukiko and low-born artist Noriyoshi are found drowned together in a shinju, or ritual double suicide, everyone believes the culprit was forbidden love. Everyone but newly appointed yoriki Sano Ichiro. Despite the official verdict and warnings from his superiors, the...  more

When beautiful, wealthy Yukiko and low-born artist Noriyoshi are found drowned together in a shinju, or ritual double suicide, everyone believes the culprit was forbidden love. Everyone but newly appointed yoriki Sano Ichiro. Despite the official verdict and warnings from his superiors, the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People suspects the deaths weren't just a tragedy -- they were murder. Risking his family's good name and his own life, Sano will search for a killer across every level of society -- determined to find answers to a mystery no one wants solved. No one but Sano... As subtle and beautiful as the culture it evokes, Shinju vividly re-creates a world of ornate tearooms and gaudy pleasure-palaces, cloistered mountaintop convents and deathly prisons. Part love story, part mystery, Shinju is a tour that will dazzle and entertain all who enter its world.

The arrival of lusty, blaspheming dowager Lady Ermentrude at St. Frideswide convent in 1431 causes quite a stir, but before the obnoxious woman can get what she came for--her niece, the novice Thomasine--she is murdered.

Roberta Gellis, acclaimed author of The Roselynde Chronicles, brings medieval London to life--and death--with her latest tale of splendor and squalor. Magdalene la Batarde is the madam of the Old Priory Guesthouse in Southwark. She and her women are expected to engage in a number of sinful...  more

Roberta Gellis, acclaimed author of The Roselynde Chronicles, brings medieval London to life--and death--with her latest tale of splendor and squalor. Magdalene la Batarde is the madam of the Old Priory Guesthouse in Southwark. She and her women are expected to engage in a number of sinful delights, but bloody murder isn't one of them--until Baldassare, the messenger, dies. Though Baldassare wasn't a regular client of the Old Priory Guesthouse, Magdalene and her women refuse to allow his death to go unavenged. Of course, their efforts aren't completely altruistic. Chances are if they don't find the killer, they will be assumed guilty because they are whores, and they will be gutted and hanged. Into this sea of intrigue steps the handsome Sir Bellamy of Itchen. The bishop of Winchester, who was served for many years by Baldassare, orders Bellamy, his most trusted knight, to investigate the murder and tells him that Magdalene has been accused of the crime. Bellamy is instantly captivated by his chief suspect but is also convinced that she is hiding something. Sure that she is involved in the messenger's death right up to her beautiful eyebrows but unable to believe she's a killer, Bellamy must find out how and why Baldassare died--or watch the mysterious Magdalene meet her fate on the gallows.

A Plague on Both Your Houses introduces the physician Matthew Bartholomew, whose unorthodox but effective treatment of his patients frequently draws accusations of heresy from his more traditional colleagues. Besides his practice, Bartholomew is teacher of Medicine at Michaelhouse, part of the...  more

A Plague on Both Your Houses introduces the physician Matthew Bartholomew, whose unorthodox but effective treatment of his patients frequently draws accusations of heresy from his more traditional colleagues. Besides his practice, Bartholomew is teacher of Medicine at Michaelhouse, part of the fledgling University of Cambridge. In 1348, the inhabitants of Cambridge live under the shadow of a terrible pestilence that has ravaged Europe and is traveling relentlessly eastward towards England. Bartholomew, however, is distracted by the sudden and inexplicable death of the Master of Michaelhouse -- a death the University authorities do not want investigated. When three more scholars die in mysterious circumstances, Bartholomew defies the University and begins his own inquiry. His pursuit for the truth leads him into a complex tangle of lies and intrigue that causes him to question the innocence of his closest friends, and even his family. When the Black Death finally arrives and sweeps through the town, Bartholomew's theories of a dark and sinister conspiracy are swiftly replaced by a desperate struggle for personal survival. But, for some, even the dangers of a horrifying death from the bubonic plague are secondary to gaining wealth and power, and Bartholomew is dragged deeper and deeper into a quagmire of deceit which threatens not only his life, but the continued existence of the University and the future of the town.

The year is 1537, and the country is divided between those faithful to the Catholic Church and those loyal to the king and the newly established Church of England. When a royal commissioner is brutally murdered in a monastery on the south coast of England, Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s...  more

The year is 1537, and the country is divided between those faithful to the Catholic Church and those loyal to the king and the newly established Church of England. When a royal commissioner is brutally murdered in a monastery on the south coast of England, Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s feared vicar general, summons fellow reformer Matthew Shardlake to lead the inquiry. Shardlake and his young protégé uncover evidence of sexual misconduct, embezzlement, and treason, and when two other murders are revealed, they must move quickly to prevent the killer from striking again.

Former knight turned detective, Crispin Guest, is called to the compound of a successful but reclusive cloth merchant who suspects his wife of infidelity and wants Crispin to look into the matter. In dire need of money, Crispin reluctantly agrees and discovers that the wife is indeed up to...  more

Former knight turned detective, Crispin Guest, is called to the compound of a successful but reclusive cloth merchant who suspects his wife of infidelity and wants Crispin to look into the matter. In dire need of money, Crispin reluctantly agrees and discovers that the wife is indeed up to something. But when he comes to inform his client, he finds the merchant dead in a sealed room, locked from the inside. Now Crispin has come to the unwanted attention of the Lord Sheriff of London and finds himself in the middle of a complex plot involving dark secrets, international intrigue, and a missing religious relic -- one that lies at the very heart of this heinous and impossible crime.

This immensely appealing launch of a new series is set in seventh-century Ireland, which in Tremayne's rendering is a golden age of enlightenment and of total equality for women. Such narrative stumbling blocks as an abundance of stereotypical characters and much more dynastic trivia,...  more

This immensely appealing launch of a new series is set in seventh-century Ireland, which in Tremayne's rendering is a golden age of enlightenment and of total equality for women. Such narrative stumbling blocks as an abundance of stereotypical characters and much more dynastic trivia, ecclesiastical and secular history than can be absorbed are offset by the vigorous, intriguing puzzle posed by a series of murders and by Sister Fidelma, the tale's brilliant and beguiling heroine. An ecclesiastical conclave to settle major divisions between the Roman and Celtic branch of Christianity is held at Whitby in 664. When a major proponent of the Celtic way, the Abbess of Kildare, is murdered, Sister Fidelma, a fellow Celtic follower and legally trained scholar, is asked to investigate. She is paired with her ideological opposite, Brother Eadulf, on the Roman side, who is shrewd, highly educated and immediately smitten with the outspoken sister. The intellectual and physical sparks that are ignited between these two clerics (in an age before celibacy) light up the pages, and when two monks are killed and the malevolence thickens, the book becomes difficult to put down. It is reassuring to read that Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf will reappear...next time in Rome.

Rome: September, 96 AD. When the body of Sextus Verpa, a notorious senatorial informer and libertine, is found stabbed to death in his bedroom, his slaves are suspected. Pliny is ordered by the emperor Domitian to investigate. However, the Ludi Romani, the Roman Games, have just...  more

Rome: September, 96 AD. When the body of Sextus Verpa, a notorious senatorial informer and libertine, is found stabbed to death in his bedroom, his slaves are suspected. Pliny is ordered by the emperor Domitian to investigate. However, the Ludi Romani, the Roman Games, have just begun and for the next fifteen days the law courts are in recess. If Pliny can't identify the murderer in that time, Verpa's entire slave household will be burned alive in the arena. Pliny, a very respectable young senator and lawyer, teams up with Martial, a starving author of bawdy verses and denizen of the Roman demimonde. Pooling their respective talents, they unravel a plot that involves Jewish and Christian 'atheists,' exotic Egyptian cultists, and a missing horoscope that forecasts the emperor's death. Their investigation leads them into the heart of the palace, where no one is safe from the paranoid emperor. As the deadline approaches, Pliny struggles with the painful dilemma of a good man who is forced to serve a brutal  regime -- a situation familiar in our own age as well.

A septuagenarian recalls his youth, when, in 1471, he quit the Benedictines (no calling), became a chapman (a wandering peddler), and discovered his affinity for detective work. A lusty romantic interlude leads him to a grieving alderman's house in Bristol, where Clement Weaver, the son, is...  more

A septuagenarian recalls his youth, when, in 1471, he quit the Benedictines (no calling), became a chapman (a wandering peddler), and discovered his affinity for detective work. A lusty romantic interlude leads him to a grieving alderman's house in Bristol, where Clement Weaver, the son, is missing -- he accompanied his sister to London to shop and disappeared right down the lane from the Crossed Hands Inn. Six months later, Roger the Chapman is in Canterbury and hears of two other disappearances near the Crossed Hands Inn -- that of Sir Richard Mallory and his servant. Are the incidents connected? Does royal politics have a hand in it? Roger hies to London and the pub across the way, the Baptist's Head, where he mentions his sleuthing to Thomas the innkeeper. Soon he's tailed and thwacked, rescuing a damsel locked away in the upper rooms of the Crossed Hands, and incurring royal indebtedness for it, but still in a dither as to the disappearances. It takes some drugged wine and an excursion to the cellar for Roger, the guard, and another inn patron to uncover the scheme and corral the perpetrators.

An exciting new medieval mystery series - Down on his luck in the Crimea, Venetian entrepreneur Nick Zuliani is dragged out of the gutter by Friar Alberoni. The priest wants him to be his bodyguard for an amazing journey to the court of the Mongol overlord, Kubla Khan, in the fabled city of...  more

An exciting new medieval mystery series - Down on his luck in the Crimea, Venetian entrepreneur Nick Zuliani is dragged out of the gutter by Friar Alberoni. The priest wants him to be his bodyguard for an amazing journey to the court of the Mongol overlord, Kubla Khan, in the fabled city of Xanadu. Zuliani jumps at the chance, but he regrets his decision when he becomes embroiled in solving the murder of the very man Alberoni was seeking . . .

The grim days of Cromwell are past. Charles II is well established at White Hall Palace -- and the heads of regicides on public display. Freed from the strictures of the Protectorate, London seethes with new energy, but many of its citizens have lost their livelihoods. One is Thomas Chaloner, a...  more

The grim days of Cromwell are past. Charles II is well established at White Hall Palace -- and the heads of regicides on public display. Freed from the strictures of the Protectorate, London seethes with new energy, but many of its citizens have lost their livelihoods. One is Thomas Chaloner, a reluctant spy for the feared Secretary of State, John Thurloe, and now returned from Holland in desperate need of work. His erstwhile employer, knowing that he has many enemies at court, recommends Thomas to Lord Clarendon, but in return demands that Thomas keep him informed of any plot against him. But what Thomas discovers is that Thurloe had sent another ex-employee to White Hall -- and he is dead, purportedly murdered by footpads near the Thames. Thomas volunteers to investigate his killing; instead he is dispatched to the Tower to unearth the gold buried by the last Governor. There, he discovers not treasure, but evidence that, whomever is in power, greed and self-interest are uppermost in men's minds. And that his own life has no value to either side.  

The death of Lord Henry Fitzalan on the feast of St. Matthew in 1303 is a matter widely reported but little mourned. Infamous for his lecherous tendencies, his midnight trysts with a coven of witches and his boundless self-interest, he was a man of few friends. So when Hugh Corbett is asked to...  more

The death of Lord Henry Fitzalan on the feast of St. Matthew in 1303 is a matter widely reported but little mourned. Infamous for his lecherous tendencies, his midnight trysts with a coven of witches and his boundless self-interest, he was a man of few friends. So when Hugh Corbett is asked to bring his murderer to justice it is not a matter of finding a suspect but of choosing between them. Immediate suspicion falls on Lord Henry's chief verderer, Robert Verlian. His daughter had been the focus of Lord Henry's roving eye in the weeks before his death and he was not a man to take no for an answer. But the culprit could just as easily be Sir William, the dead man's younger brother. It is no secret that Sir William covets the Fitzalan estate -- but would he kill to inherit it? The possibilities are endless, but the truth is more terrible than anyone could have imagined.

Five hundred years ago, the western seaboard of Ireland was home to an independent kingdom that lived peacefully by the ancient Celtic laws of their forebears. On the first eve of a festive celebration, all the people of the land headed up Mullaghmore Mountain to light a bonfire. But one...  more

Five hundred years ago, the western seaboard of Ireland was home to an independent kingdom that lived peacefully by the ancient Celtic laws of their forebears. On the first eve of a festive celebration, all the people of the land headed up Mullaghmore Mountain to light a bonfire. But one man?assistant to Mara, the King?s appointed judge and lawgiver?did not return. For two days he lay in the mountains being picked clean by ravens. And yet no one spoke of him or told what they had seen. Who killed him? Why? When Mara comes seeking answers to these questions, she discovers that more than just her own life may be in danger. 

Thief. Informer. Double-dealer. Pimp. Will Shadwell may not be the most moral of men, but to gentleman spy Henry Gresham he is invaluable. During the reign of King James I a man must know his enemies to survive and Shadwell is one of Gresham’s best sources.Then Shadwell is discovered...  more

Thief. Informer. Double-dealer. Pimp. Will Shadwell may not be the most moral of men, but to gentleman spy Henry Gresham he is invaluable. During the reign of King James I a man must know his enemies to survive and Shadwell is one of Gresham’s best sources.Then Shadwell is discovered brutally murdered. And before Gresham is able to establish why, he is summoned by the man he fears most: Robert Cecil, the King’s Machiavellian Chief Secretary. Cecil wants Gresham to investigate Sir Francis Bacon’s private life. When Gresham begins his inquiries, he uncovers a plot so audacious it is scarcely believable: a conspiring clutch of Catholic lords and a trail of gunpowder underneath the Houses of Parliament.From the court of King James to the deadly underworld of Jacobean London, Martin Stephen’s superb debut novel is as rich in atmosphere as it is in tension. Historical fiction of the highest order, The Desperate Remedy is a thrilling tale of courtly machinations.

Novice lawyer Gil Cunningham finds his true vocation not as a priest but as an investigator. This meticulously researched historical mystery is the debut of a medieval Scottish investigator. Gil Cunningham is a recently qualified lawyer whose family expects him to enter the priesthood. At the...  more

Novice lawyer Gil Cunningham finds his true vocation not as a priest but as an investigator. This meticulously researched historical mystery is the debut of a medieval Scottish investigator. Gil Cunningham is a recently qualified lawyer whose family expects him to enter the priesthood. At the May Day dancing at Glasgow Cross, Gil notices an attractive woman who is subsequently murdered. When he finds the body of the woman in the new building under construction at Glasgow Cathedral, he is asked to investigate. The corpse was the runaway wife of cruel, unpleasant nobleman John Semphill. She had left him to live with a blind harper whom she bore an infant son. With the help of Maistre Pierre, the French master mason whose lovely daughter has captured his heart, Gil identifies a callous multiple murderer that no one would have suspected.  

In this ingenious debut, Rory Clements introduces John Shakespeare, Elizabethan England's most remarkable investigator, and delivers a tale of murder and conspiracy that succeeds brilliantly as both historical fiction and a crime thriller. In a burnt-out house, one of Queen...  more

In this ingenious debut, Rory Clements introduces John Shakespeare, Elizabethan England's most remarkable investigator, and delivers a tale of murder and conspiracy that succeeds brilliantly as both historical fiction and a crime thriller. In a burnt-out house, one of Queen Elizabeth's aristocratic cousins is found murdered, her young flesh marked with profane symbols. At the same time, a plot to assassinate Sir Francis Drake, England's most famous sea warrior, is discovered - a plot which, if successful, could leave the country utterly defenseless against a Spanish invasion. It's 1587, the Queen's reign is in jeopardy, and one man is charged with the desperate task of solving both cases: John Shakespeare. With the Spanish Armada poised to strike, Mary Queen of Scots awaiting execution, and the pikes above London Bridge decorated with the grim evidence of treachery, the country is in peril of being overwhelmed by fear and chaos. Following a trail of illicit passions and family secrets, Shakespeare travels through an underworld of spies, sorcerers, whores, and theater people, among whom is his own younger brother, the struggling playwright, Will. Shadowed by his rival, the Queen's chief torturer, who employs his own methods of terror, Shakespeare begins to piece together a complex and breathtaking conspiracy whose implications are almost too horrific to contemplate. For a zealous and cunning killer is stalking England's streets. And as Shakespeare threatens to reveal a madman's shocking identity, he and the beautiful woman he desires come ever closer to becoming the next martyrs to a passion for murder and conspiracy whose terrifying consequences might still be felt today.

Giordano Bruno was a monk, poet, scientist, and magician on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies...  more

Giordano Bruno was a monk, poet, scientist, and magician on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies and magic. Bruno's pursuit of this rare knowledge brings him to London, where he is unexpectedly recruited by Queen Elizabeth I and is sent undercover to Oxford University on the pretext of a royal visitation. Officially Bruno is to take part in a debate on the Copernican theory of the universe; unofficially, he is to find out whatever he can about a Catholic plot to overthrow the queen. His mission is dramatically thrown off course by a series of grisly murders and a spirited and beautiful young woman. As Bruno begins to discover a pattern in these killings, he realizes that no one at Oxford is who he seems to be. Bruno must attempt to outwit a killer who appears obsessed with the boundary between truth and heresy.

1587, and Mary, Queen of Scots, dies by the executioner's axe, her head, shorn of its auburn wig, rolling across the platform. Will her death end the ceaseless plotting against Mary's red-haired cousin, Elizabeth? 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, is a time of more terror and...  more

1587, and Mary, Queen of Scots, dies by the executioner's axe, her head, shorn of its auburn wig, rolling across the platform. Will her death end the ceaseless plotting against Mary's red-haired cousin, Elizabeth? 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, is a time of more terror and triumph, not just for queen and court but for the whole of England. The turmoil is reflected in its theatres and under the galleries of inns like London's The Queen's Head where Lord Westfield's Men perform. The scene there on grows even more tumultuous when one of the actors is murdered by a mysterious stranger during a brawl. Nicholas Bracewell, the company's bookholder, a role far wider than mere producer, faces two immediate repercussions. The first is to secure a replacement acceptable to its temperamental star -- and chief shareholder -- Lawrence Firethorn. The second is to keep his promise to the dying Will Fowler and catch his killer. Soon further robberies, accidents, and misfortunes strike Lord Westfield's Men even as their stage successes swell. Bracewell begins to suspect a conspiracy, not a single murderous act, but where lies the proof? Then the players are rewarded with the ultimate accolade -- an appearance at court -- and the canny bookholder senses the end to the drama is at hand.

A brand new medieval mystery from the author of the ˜Hawkenlye’ series - England, 1087. On her sister’s wedding day, Lassair meets an enigmatic stranger who brings a breath of the fascinating outside world to her backwater Fenland village. When he asks Lassair to use her unique...  more

A brand new medieval mystery from the author of the ˜Hawkenlye’ series - England, 1087. On her sister’s wedding day, Lassair meets an enigmatic stranger who brings a breath of the fascinating outside world to her backwater Fenland village. When he asks Lassair to use her unique talents to help locate a mysterious treasure she accepts, despite the dangers. But this is no ordinary treasure hunt; the object of the perilous search is five hundred years old and has a terrifying power . . .

In 1086, England's mighty king, William the Conqueror, sends out surveyors and census takers to record the resources of his land and its people. Some welcome these inquisitive royal agents and their "day of judgment." Others hate them. But wherever the king's men go they bring...  more

In 1086, England's mighty king, William the Conqueror, sends out surveyors and census takers to record the resources of his land and its people. Some welcome these inquisitive royal agents and their "day of judgment." Others hate them. But wherever the king's men go they bring excitement -- and sometimes murder. . . Hamo FitzCorbucion tortures his Saxon slaves, insults the Norman gentry, and steals his neighbors' land. Now William the Conqueror's Domesday tribunal is preparing to render justice. But hardly have the King's men arrived than FitzCorbucion's son and heir is murdered. Searching for his destroyer, the royal inquirers must greatly widen their scope, for the rapacious ravens of Blackwater Hall have gratified their passions for much more than land. Oslac the Priest, the aristocratic Champeneys, a runaway boy, even the nuns of Maldon Priory -- all have felt the ravens' claws. And for the sweetness of revenge at least one among them would gladly die. . .

In the unseasonable heat of a spring morning in 80 B.C., Gordianus the Finder is summoned to the house of Cicero, a young advocate staking his reputation on a case involving the savage murder of the wealthy, sybaritic Sextus Roscius. Charged with the murder is Sextus's son, greed being the...  more

In the unseasonable heat of a spring morning in 80 B.C., Gordianus the Finder is summoned to the house of Cicero, a young advocate staking his reputation on a case involving the savage murder of the wealthy, sybaritic Sextus Roscius. Charged with the murder is Sextus's son, greed being the apparent motive. The punishment, rooted deep in Roman tradition, is horrific beyond imagining. The case becomes a political nightmare when Gordianus's investigation takes him through the city's raucous, pungent streets and deep into rural Umbria. Now, one man's fate may threaten the very leaders of Rome itself.

Introducing Hugh Corbett: the Sherlock Holmes of the 13th Century. He was a hero of the Welsh expedition who saved the life of England's King Edward I. His reward: a cushy clerk's job. But when the king calls on him again to help foil an assassination plot, things no longer remain so...  more

Introducing Hugh Corbett: the Sherlock Holmes of the 13th Century. He was a hero of the Welsh expedition who saved the life of England's King Edward I. His reward: a cushy clerk's job. But when the king calls on him again to help foil an assassination plot, things no longer remain so cushy. Corbett's first clue is a suicide committed within the shadowy halls of London's infamous St. Mary's Church. As soon as Corbett discovers the true murderous nature of the incident, he too is stalked by the killers. His investigation takes him on a macabre journey through the mean, disease-infested streets of 13th century London where death and terror rule the nights. What he uncovers is a ghastly demonic cult whose god is Satan, whose goal is to overthrow the throne, and whose members will let no man stand in their way.

In 1097 the Pope appealed to all virtuous and God-fearing men to join the Crusade to wrest Jerusalem from the Infidel. But by 1100, Sir Geoffrey Mappestone is one of the few kings who has survived the harrowing journey, the battle to take the city, and the political infighting over the rule of...  more

In 1097 the Pope appealed to all virtuous and God-fearing men to join the Crusade to wrest Jerusalem from the Infidel. But by 1100, Sir Geoffrey Mappestone is one of the few kings who has survived the harrowing journey, the battle to take the city, and the political infighting over the rule of the kingdom. Upon returning to Jerusalem one day following an exhausting desert patrol, Geoffrey hears screams coming from the house of a Greek baker and discovers that one of his closest friends, a fellow knight, has been murdered in the woman's bedchamber. But this is not the first suspicious death in the city -- other knights and priests have also been killed, and all, it is discovered, with the same type of curved dagger with a jeweled hilt. Ordered to investigate the deaths by his liege lord, Prince Tancred, Geoffrey realizes too late that they are somehow part of a plot to topple the most formidable lords from their uncertain hold on power. It is not long before he finds himself drawn into dire straits involving some of the most dangerous men in the city -- and learns that his closest friends could also be his deadliest enemies.

By 1322, Mathilde of Westminster was considered the finest physician in London. But in her years as lady-in-waiting to Princess Isabella, she was drawn into the murky politics of the English court, where sudden, mysterious death was part of the tapestry of life. Many years later, Mathilde...  more

By 1322, Mathilde of Westminster was considered the finest physician in London. But in her years as lady-in-waiting to Princess Isabella, she was drawn into the murky politics of the English court, where sudden, mysterious death was part of the tapestry of life. Many years later, Mathilde looks back and chronicles her turbulent life. With her sharp, suspicious intellect ready to distinguish between a fatality and an unnatural death, Mathilde is confronted by a host of chilling murders. The source of these horrors is the fierce political rivalry between Philip of France and Edward of England. This manifests itself in a series of gruesome killings, one of which actually took place during Edward II's Coronation, when a knight of the Royal Household, Sir John Baquelle was crushed to death.

His great battles against the sea raiders in the Nile Delta have left Pharoah Tuthmosis II frail, but he finds solace in victory and in the welcome he is sure to receive on his return to Thebes. Across the river from Thebes, however, there are those who do not relish his homecoming, and a group...  more

His great battles against the sea raiders in the Nile Delta have left Pharoah Tuthmosis II frail, but he finds solace in victory and in the welcome he is sure to receive on his return to Thebes. Across the river from Thebes, however, there are those who do not relish his homecoming, and a group of assassins has taken a witch to pollute the Pharaoh's unfinished tomb. Reunited with his wife, Hatusu, and his people, Tuthmosis stands before the statue of Amun-Ra, the roar of the crowd and the fanfare of trumpets ringing in his ears. But within an hour he is dead and the people of Thebes cannot forget the omen of wounded doves flying overhead. Rumours run rife, speculation sweeps the royal city and Hatusu vows to uncover the truth. With the aid of Amerotke, a respected judge of Thebes, she embarks on a path destined to reveal the great secrets of Egypt.

In an adventure filled with highway bandits, unscrupulous politicians, and renegade monks, The Dragon Scroll introduces readers to the lively world of eleventh-century Japan and an irrepressible hero -- Sugawara Akitada. On his first official assignment, Akitada -- an impoverished nobleman and...  more

In an adventure filled with highway bandits, unscrupulous politicians, and renegade monks, The Dragon Scroll introduces readers to the lively world of eleventh-century Japan and an irrepressible hero -- Sugawara Akitada. On his first official assignment, Akitada -- an impoverished nobleman and earnest young government clerk in the Ministry of Justice -- is sent from the capital city on a nearly impossible mission to the distant province of Kazusa to discover why tax convoys are disappearing. In the politically murky world of the Japanese court, he has been set up to fail. Against the odds, the ever-resourceful Akitada, his elderly servant Seimei, and his impudent bodyguard Tora are determined to fulfill their mission and discover the truth in a town of dangerous secrets.

To Shield the Queen Rumor has linked Queen Elizabeth I to her master of horse, Robin Dudley. As gossip would have it, only his ailing wife, Amy, prevents marriage between Dudley and the Queen. To quell the idle tongues at court, the Queen dispatches Ursula Blanchard to tend to the sick...  more

To Shield the Queen Rumor has linked Queen Elizabeth I to her master of horse, Robin Dudley. As gossip would have it, only his ailing wife, Amy, prevents marriage between Dudley and the Queen. To quell the idle tongues at court, the Queen dispatches Ursula Blanchard to tend to the sick woman's needs. But not even Ursula can prevent the "accident" that takes Amy's life. Did she fall or was she pushed? Was Ursula a pawn of Dudley and the Queen? Suddenly Ursula finds herself at the center of the scandal, trying to protect Elizabeth as she loses her heart to a Frenchman who may be flirting with sedition against her Queen. She can trust no one, neither her lover nor her monarch, as she sets out to find the truth in a glittering court that conceals a wellspring of blood and lies.

In this rousing historical adventure set in the Tudor court, we are swept back to the final days of King Edward VI’s reign, and a time of danger, intrigue, and bravery. Brendan Prescott, a foundling reared in Dudley household, arrives at court to serve as a squire to the arrogant Lord...  more

In this rousing historical adventure set in the Tudor court, we are swept back to the final days of King Edward VI’s reign, and a time of danger, intrigue, and bravery. Brendan Prescott, a foundling reared in Dudley household, arrives at court to serve as a squire to the arrogant Lord Robert Dudley. Keen and ambitious, Brendan hopes to gain advancement in his new post -- until Lord Robert dispatches him on an illicit mission to the King’s enigmatic sister, the Princess Elizabeth, and Brendan discovers that nothing in his world is as it appears. A dark plot brews around Elizabeth's quest to unravel the truth about her brother's disappearance. Lured into her service as a spy, with only a bold stable boy and audacious lady-in-waiting at his side, Brendan plunges into a ruthless gambit of half-truths and lies, pitted against the wiles of a vengeful opponent who holds the secret of his own mysterious birth -- a secret that could shatter everything he believes in, and cast an inescapable shadow over him, Elizabeth, and the future of England itself.

A shocking murder complicated by religious intolerance fuels one man's search for truth as well as his own soul. When a young boy is killed on Good Friday, is the assumption correct that a Christian has been murdered by Jews? This is the situation that Lord Godwin faces as he seeks a solution to...  more

A shocking murder complicated by religious intolerance fuels one man's search for truth as well as his own soul. When a young boy is killed on Good Friday, is the assumption correct that a Christian has been murdered by Jews? This is the situation that Lord Godwin faces as he seeks a solution to the "Murder on Good Friday."

Byzantium, capitol of the 6th century Roman Empire, simmers a rich stew of creeds, cultures, and citizens with a sprinkling of cutthroats and crimes. John the Eunuch, Emperor Justinian's Lord Chamberlain, orders a Christian court while himself observing the rites of Mithra. Thomas, a knight...  more

Byzantium, capitol of the 6th century Roman Empire, simmers a rich stew of creeds, cultures, and citizens with a sprinkling of cutthroats and crimes. John the Eunuch, Emperor Justinian's Lord Chamberlain, orders a Christian court while himself observing the rites of Mithra. Thomas, a knight from Britain, Ahasuerus, a soothsayer, and two ladies from Crete stir up events and old memories for John, who must ask how the visitors link to the death of Leukos, Keeper of the Plate. An Egyptian brothel keeper and a Christian stylite know more than they are telling.... In due course, John gets his man -- and a love scene....

Roman Britain in 91 AD is a raw frontier province, a troublesome part of the mighty Empire ruled by Domitian Caesar. Though it is almost fifty years since the legions invaded, many native tribes still hate their conquerors and seize any chance to harass the Roman settlers who are flocking in to...  more

Roman Britain in 91 AD is a raw frontier province, a troublesome part of the mighty Empire ruled by Domitian Caesar. Though it is almost fifty years since the legions invaded, many native tribes still hate their conquerors and seize any chance to harass the Roman settlers who are flocking in to colonise the new province. Tension is especially high in the north, where Aurelia Marcella, a young innkeeper from Italy, runs the Oak Tree Mansio on the road to York. A string of savage murders disrupts her peaceful life, and she and her Roman friends find themselves under attack from a secret native war-band, the Shadow-men, whose aim is to drive all Romans out. A traveller, Quintus, is nearly killed close to the inn, and he and Aurelia must track down the rebel warriors and identify their mysterious masked leader, the Shadow of Death. Their investigations bring them into personal danger from ruthless killers and devious deceivers. Can they find and destroy the Shadow of Death before his campaign of terror turns into open rebellion, so that all Romans must get out or die?

Girona, Spain. 1353. Struggling to save his patients from the plague, and avoiding the even greater danger of his wife's temper, Isaac discovers that pestilence isn't the city's only killer. A nun dies in the public baths. Then it is revealed that she is not a nun at all, but an...  more

Girona, Spain. 1353. Struggling to save his patients from the plague, and avoiding the even greater danger of his wife's temper, Isaac discovers that pestilence isn't the city's only killer. A nun dies in the public baths. Then it is revealed that she is not a nun at all, but an attendant to the queen in nun's disguise. The Bishop of Girona calls upon Isaac to help determine the strange circumstance of her death--and the purpose of her deception. But Isaac soon finds himself and his family caught in a tightening web of royal intrigue designed to destroy the Spanish monarchy--and whoever else gets in the way...  

September 1144. A terrible curse has descended on the people of the Broceliande Forest: children are disappearing while others die mysteriously. Soon the townspeople are gripped by Celtic legends of werewolves and fairies as they try to make sense of these tragic events. The man they blame is...  more

September 1144. A terrible curse has descended on the people of the Broceliande Forest: children are disappearing while others die mysteriously. Soon the townspeople are gripped by Celtic legends of werewolves and fairies as they try to make sense of these tragic events. The man they blame is the lord of the region, who is rumored to dabble in black magic. In order to retain any authority over the peasants, he must act quickly to prove his innocence. So he summons the Chevalier Galeran de Lesneven -- who fought with him in the Crusades and whose life he once saved -- to uncover the truth behind these appalling events.

In Norman England, in 1086, a royal tribunal discovers a terrible murder in the village of Bedwyn, and soldier Ralph Delchard and clerk Gervase Bret chase a potentially nonhuman killer.

From Brittany's misty shores to the decadent splendor of Paris's royal court, one woman must fulfill her destiny -- while facing the treacherous designs of Catherine de Medici, the dark queen. She is Ariane, the Lady of Faire Isle, one of the Cheney sisters, renowned for their mystical skills...  more

From Brittany's misty shores to the decadent splendor of Paris's royal court, one woman must fulfill her destiny -- while facing the treacherous designs of Catherine de Medici, the dark queen. She is Ariane, the Lady of Faire Isle, one of the Cheney sisters, renowned for their mystical skills and for keeping the isle secure and prosperous. But this is a time when women of ability are deemed sorceresses, when Renaissance France is torn by ruthless political intrigues, and all are held in thrall to the sinister ambitions of Queen Catherine de Medici. Then a wounded stranger arrives on Faire Isle, bearing a secret the Dark Queen will do everything in her power to possess. The only person Ariane can turn to is the comte de Renard, a nobleman with fiery determination and a past as mysterious as his own unusual gifts. Riveting, vibrant, and breathtaking, The Dark Queen follows Ariane and Renard as they risk everything to prevent the fulfillment of a dreadful prophecy -- even if they must tempt fate and their own passions.

The Abbess Helewise of Hawkenlye-the wisest and most unlikely sleuth since Brother Cadfael-teams up with a canny soldier of fortune in the debut of this irrestible mystery series. It is 1157, and a young nun from Hawkenlye Abbey has been found with her throat slashed. The people of rural...  more

The Abbess Helewise of Hawkenlye-the wisest and most unlikely sleuth since Brother Cadfael-teams up with a canny soldier of fortune in the debut of this irrestible mystery series. It is 1157, and a young nun from Hawkenlye Abbey has been found with her throat slashed. The people of rural Kent are quick to jump to conclusions: Surely the murderer must be one of the felons released by the new king, Richard Plantagenet, as a sign of his goodness and charity. When King Richard dispatches a brave and loyal soldier of fortune, Josse d'Acquin, to investigate the shockingly brutal crime, Josse understands that his mission is to absolve the king from blame. But that is before he meets the surprisingly worldly Abbess Helewise. With a mixture of honesty, wit, and determination, Helewise enlists Josse in her quest to uncover the menace that lurks behind the orderly facade of life in the convent and the surrounding manors. Alys Clare not only recreates the violence and beauty of medieval times but introduces a truly wonderful new pair of detectives.

This is a brand new medieval mystery from the author of the popular "Hawkenlye" series. It is 1087 and William Rufus has just ascended the throne; England lies under a harsh new militaristic regime. Rebellion is in the air and, in the shadows, secrets are muttered that men will kill...  more

This is a brand new medieval mystery from the author of the popular "Hawkenlye" series. It is 1087 and William Rufus has just ascended the throne; England lies under a harsh new militaristic regime. Rebellion is in the air and, in the shadows, secrets are muttered that men will kill for. On her sister's wedding day, Lassair meets an attractive and enigmatic stranger who brings a breath of the glamorous and fascinating outside world to her backwater Fenland village. Young and confident, when Lassair is asked to use her unique talents to help locate a mysterious treasure she accepts with barely a hesitation - despite the grave consequences should the mission be discovered. But after a night-time march across East Anglia, Lassair begins to understand the danger she is in. For this is no ordinary treasure hunt; the object of the perilous search is five hundred years old and has a terrifying power of its own...

A novel set in 17th century Restoration London, charting the fortunes of one Harry Lytle, as he pursues the mystery behind the murder of his cousin.

In 1517, the English armies have defeated and killed James IV of Scotland at Flodden and James's widow-queen, Margaret, sister to Henry VIII, has fled to England, leaving her crown under a Council of Regency. Roger Shallot is drawn into a web of mystery and murder by his close friendship...  more

In 1517, the English armies have defeated and killed James IV of Scotland at Flodden and James's widow-queen, Margaret, sister to Henry VIII, has fled to England, leaving her crown under a Council of Regency. Roger Shallot is drawn into a web of mystery and murder by his close friendship with Benjamin Daunbey, the nephew of Cardinal Wolsey, first minister of Henry VIII. Benjamin and Roger are ordered into Margaret's household to resolve certain mysteries as well as to bring about her restoration to Scotland. They begin by questioning Selkirk, a half-mad physician imprisoned in the Tower. He is subsequently found poisoned in a locked chamber guarded by soldiers. The only clue is a poem of riddles. However, the poem contains the seeds for other gruesome murders. The faceless assassin always leaves a white rose, the mark of Les Blancs Sangliers, a secret society plotting the overthrow of the Tudor monarchy.  

The suspicious death of Richard II prompts an unground movement known as the White Harte... Jankyn's narrative relates his own past, a past spent unwillingly under the tutelage of priests and friars in an Augustinian monastery; his rebellious flirtation with the heresy of Lollardism; and...  more

The suspicious death of Richard II prompts an unground movement known as the White Harte... Jankyn's narrative relates his own past, a past spent unwillingly under the tutelage of priests and friars in an Augustinian monastery; his rebellious flirtation with the heresy of Lollardism; and finally his becoming a thief, an accused traitor, and yeoman to Bishop Henry Beaufort, illegitimate grandson of 'The Black Prince', and half-brother to King Henry V. It is Beaufort who 'rescues' Jankyn from Newgate prison to serve as his investigator of the rumours that Richard II is not dead, but alive in Scotland, encouraging the small rebellions under the sign of the White Harte. It is up to Jankyn to discover the truth...

She was a passionate lover. Was she also a murderess? Edinburgh, 1567. Like an angel of mercy, beautiful Mary, Queen of Scots nurses her ill husband before suddenly leaving his bedside to attend the wedding festivities of her maid of honor. Hours later, the calm night is shattered by a...  more

She was a passionate lover. Was she also a murderess? Edinburgh, 1567. Like an angel of mercy, beautiful Mary, Queen of Scots nurses her ill husband before suddenly leaving his bedside to attend the wedding festivities of her maid of honor. Hours later, the calm night is shattered by a devastating explosion. The king's body is found in a field with a cloak, a chair, a slipper and a dagger by his lifeless corpse. Incredibly, there is not a mark on him. For a queen besieged by her enemies, it was the hour of her darkest danger... Scotland, land of wild moors and pagan passion is swept by violence and bloodshed. When stolen letters cast suspicion on the queen herself, she is accused of murder. Only the shadowy scholar Nicholas Segalla, a man who has solved many of history's most famous murders, can uncover the truth. Was the fiery Mary the perpetrator of the King's bloody murder, or the object of a ruthless plot of betrayal, crafted by England's most masterful assassin, the Raven Master?

1587, and Mary, Queen of Scots, dies by the executioner's axe, her head, shorn of its auburn wig, rolling across the platform. Will her death end the ceaseless plotting against Mary's red-haired cousin, Elizabeth? 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, is a time of more terror and...  more

1587, and Mary, Queen of Scots, dies by the executioner's axe, her head, shorn of its auburn wig, rolling across the platform. Will her death end the ceaseless plotting against Mary's red-haired cousin, Elizabeth? 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, is a time of more terror and triumph, not just for queen and court but for the whole of England. The turmoil is reflected in its theatres and under the galleries of inns like London's The Queen's Head where Lord Westfield's Men perform. The scene there on grows even more tumultuous when one of the actors is murdered by a mysterious stranger during a brawl. Nicholas Bracewell, the company's bookholder, a role far wider than mere producer, faces two immediate repercussions. The first is to secure a replacement acceptable to its temperamental star -- and chief shareholder -- Lawrence Firethorn. The second is to keep his promise to the dying Will Fowler and catch his killer. Soon further robberies, accidents, and misfortunes strike Lord Westfield's Men even as their stage successes swell. Bracewell begins to suspect a conspiracy, not a single murderous act, but where lies the proof? Then the players are rewarded with the ultimate accolade -- an appearance at court -- and the canny bookholder senses the end to the drama is at hand....

Known as the Veiled One, the ugly and deformed Akenhaten is a shadowy figure. As a child he is overlooked and despised by his own father. As an adult he is thrust into the political limelight when his elder brother dies. Mahu, ambitious and ruthless, watches the young prince carve his own path...  more

Known as the Veiled One, the ugly and deformed Akenhaten is a shadowy figure. As a child he is overlooked and despised by his own father. As an adult he is thrust into the political limelight when his elder brother dies. Mahu, ambitious and ruthless, watches the young prince carve his own path to power. He becomes Akenhaten's alter ego, his protector and confidant, standing by as Akenhaten proclaims that there is only one God, the Aten, and that he, Akenhaten, is that God's only son. Revolution and chaos follow in this dramatic reign filled with fraud, abduction, assassination, betrayal and treachery. But when Mahu becomes suspicious of Akenhaten's majestic and glorious wife Nefertiti, and the political skill of her brother, Ay, it seems that a hidden and malign influence may also be at work. And then Akenhaten disappears...

The letter came in secret, with a pearl ear drop from an aunt long thought dead, resurrecting the forbidden past. Banished by her spiteful half sister, Queen Mary, to Hatfield House in the English countryside, twenty-five-year-old Princess Elizabeth cannot refuse the summons. The Boleyn's...  more

The letter came in secret, with a pearl ear drop from an aunt long thought dead, resurrecting the forbidden past. Banished by her spiteful half sister, Queen Mary, to Hatfield House in the English countryside, twenty-five-year-old Princess Elizabeth cannot refuse the summons. The Boleyn's are in grave danger. And Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, is marked for death by a master poisoner whose reign of terror may have royal sanction. With her few loyal retainers, Elizabeth escapes to Kent.  Here, in her ancestral Hever Castle, now held by the Queen's loyalists, Elizabeth seeks to unravel the plot against her.  And here, in the embrace of intrigue and betrayal, the princess must find a brilliant, powerfully connected killer--before the killer finds her....

It is late summer in the year 1270 and England is as weary as its aging king, Henry lll. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs like smoke over the land. Even in the small priory of Tyndal on the remote East Anglian coast, the monks and nuns of the Order...  more

It is late summer in the year 1270 and England is as weary as its aging king, Henry lll. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs like smoke over the land. Even in the small priory of Tyndal on the remote East Anglian coast, the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevraud long for a return to tranquil routine. Their hopes are dashed, however, when the young and inexperienced Eleanor of Wynethorpe is appointed their new prioress over someone of their own choosing. Nor are Eleanor's own prayers for a peaceful transition answered. Only a day after her arrival, a brutally murdered monk is found in the cloister gardens, and Brother Thomas, a young priest with a troubled past, arrives to bring her a more personal grief. Now she must not only struggle to gain the respect of her terrified and resentful flock, but also cope with violence, lust and greed in a placed dedicated to love and peace.

In this compelling debut of her historical mystery series, Fiona Buckley introduces Ursula Blanchard, a widowed young mother who has become lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. Armed with a sharp eye, dangerous curiosity, and uncanny intelligence, Ursula pledges... To Shield the...  more

In this compelling debut of her historical mystery series, Fiona Buckley introduces Ursula Blanchard, a widowed young mother who has become lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. Armed with a sharp eye, dangerous curiosity, and uncanny intelligence, Ursula pledges... To Shield the Queen Rumor has linked Queen Elizabeth I to her master of horse, Robin Dudley. As gossip would have it, only his ailing wife, Amy, prevents marriage between Dudley and the Queen. To quell the idle tongues at court, the Queen dispatches Ursula Blanchard to tend to the sick woman's needs. But not even Ursula can prevent the "accident" that takes Amy's life. Did she fall or was she pushed? Was Ursula a pawn of Dudley and the Queen? Suddenly Ursula finds herself at the center of the scandal, trying to protect Elizabeth as she loses her heart to a Frenchman who may be flirting with sedition against her Queen. She can trust no one, neither her lover nor her monarch, as she sets out to find the truth in a glittering court that conceals a wellspring of blood and lies.

The first volume in the "Lymond Chronicles", this is the story, set in 1547, of Frances Crawford of Lymond, a Scottish scholar-nobleman accused of treason who returns to his homeland at the risk of his life. Scotland is threatened by an English invasion and by rivalries between its noble...  more

The first volume in the "Lymond Chronicles", this is the story, set in 1547, of Frances Crawford of Lymond, a Scottish scholar-nobleman accused of treason who returns to his homeland at the risk of his life. Scotland is threatened by an English invasion and by rivalries between its noble families. Accused of treason, Lyman puts together a band of outlaws in a desperate attempt to redeem his reputation.

With the bravura storytelling and pungent authenticity of detail she brought to her acclaimed Lymond Chronicles, Dorothy Dunnett, grande dame of the historical novel, presents The House of Niccolo series. The time is the 15th century, when intrepid merchants became the new knighthood of Europe....  more

With the bravura storytelling and pungent authenticity of detail she brought to her acclaimed Lymond Chronicles, Dorothy Dunnett, grande dame of the historical novel, presents The House of Niccolo series. The time is the 15th century, when intrepid merchants became the new knighthood of Europe. Among them, none is bolder or more cunning than Nicholas vander Poele of Bruges, the good-natured dyer's apprentice who schemes and swashbuckles his way to the helm of a mercantile empire. Scotland, 1468: a nation at the edge of Europe, a civilization on the threshold of the Modern Age. Merchants, musicians, politicians, and pageantry fill the court of King James III. In its midst, Nicholas seeks to avenge his bride's claim that she carries the bastard of his archenemy, Simon St. Pol. When she flees before Nicholas can determine whether or not the rumored child is his own—or exists at all—Nicholas gives chase. So begins the deadly game of cat and mouse that will lead him from the infested cisterns of Cairo to the misted canals of Venice at carnival. Breathlessly paced, sparkling with wit. The Unicorn Hunt confirms Dorothy Dunnett as the genre's finest practitioner.

Germany, 1660: When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play in his small Bavarian town. Whispers and dark memories of witch trials and the women burned at the stake just...  more

Germany, 1660: When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play in his small Bavarian town. Whispers and dark memories of witch trials and the women burned at the stake just seventy years earlier still haunt the streets of Schongau. When more children disappear and an orphan boy is found dead -marked by the same tattoo- the mounting hysteria threatens to erupt into chaos. Before the unrest forces him to torture and execute the very woman who aided in the birth of his children, Jakob must unravel the truth. With the help of his clever daughter, Magdelena, and Simon, the university-educated son of the town's physician, Jakob discovers that a devil is indeed loose in Schongau. But it may be too late to prevent bloodshed. A brilliantly detailed, fast-paced historical thriller, The Hangman's Daughter is the first novel from German television screenwriter Oliver Pötzsch, a descendent of the Kuisls, a famous Bavarian executioner clan.

It is 1376, and the famed Black Prince has died of a terrible rotting sickness, closely followed by his father, King Edward III. The crown of England is now left in the hands of a mere boy -- the future Richard II -- and the great nobles have gathered like hungry wolves around the empty...  more

It is 1376, and the famed Black Prince has died of a terrible rotting sickness, closely followed by his father, King Edward III. The crown of England is now left in the hands of a mere boy -- the future Richard II -- and the great nobles have gathered like hungry wolves around the empty throne. A terrible power struggle threatens the country, and one of London's powerful merchant princes is foully murdered within a few days of Edward’s death. Coroner Sir John Cranston and Dominican monk Brother Athelstan are ordered to investigate, and the body count begins to rise, Cranston and Athelstan are drawn ever deeper into a dark web of intrigue.

November, 1194. Appointed by Richard the Lionheart as the first coroner for the county of Devon, Sir John de Wolfe, an ex-Crusader, rides out to the lonely moorland village of Widecombe to hold an inquest on an unidentified body. On his return to Exeter, the coroner is incensed to find that his...  more

November, 1194. Appointed by Richard the Lionheart as the first coroner for the county of Devon, Sir John de Wolfe, an ex-Crusader, rides out to the lonely moorland village of Widecombe to hold an inquest on an unidentified body. On his return to Exeter, the coroner is incensed to find that his own brother-in-law, Sheriff Richard de Revelle, is intent on thwarting the murder investigation, particularly when it emerges that the dead man is a Crusader and a member of one of Devon's finest and most honourable families.

Set in the bustling London of Elizabeth I, this novel centers around an aspiring actor, Nick Revill, and his suspicion that there is a similiarity between the situation of a young man he has met and Shakespeare's newest play "Hamlet". Possibly he is nearer to the plot than he thinks.

England is close to war.  Within days the axe could fall on the neck of Mary Queen of Scots, and Spain is already gathering a battle fleet to avenge her.  Tensions in Elizabeth I's government are at breaking point.  At the eye of the storm is John Shakespeare, chief...  more

England is close to war.  Within days the axe could fall on the neck of Mary Queen of Scots, and Spain is already gathering a battle fleet to avenge her.  Tensions in Elizabeth I's government are at breaking point.  At the eye of the storm is John Shakespeare, chief intelligencer in the secret service of Sir Francis Walsingham.  When an intercept reveals a plot to assassinate England's 'sea dragon', Francis Drake, Shakespeare is ordered to protect him.  With Drake on land fitting out his ships, he is frighteningly vulnerable.  If he dies, England will be open to invasion.  In a London rife with rumour, Shakespeare must decide which leads to follow, which to ignore. When a high-born young woman is found mutilated and murdered at an illicit printing house, it is political gunpowder -- and he has no option but to investigate.  But why is Shakespeare shadowed at every turn by the brutal Richard Topcliffe, the blood-drenched priest-hunter who claims intimacy with Queen Elizabeth herself? What is Topcliffe's interest in a housemaid, whose baby has been stolen?  And where do two fugitive Jesuit priests fit into the puzzle, one happy to die for God, the other to kill for Him?  From the splendour and intrigue of the royal court, to the sleek warships of Her Majesty's Navy and the teeming brothels of Southwark, Shakespeare soon learns that nothing is as it seems ...

Who has dared to desecrate the sacred place of embalming with a murdered corpse? Pharaoh Tutankhamun orders Lord Meren, his chief investigator, to find out quickly, before power-mad priests use the incident to undermine his royal authority. Everyone is a suspect, for the body belongs to the...  more

Who has dared to desecrate the sacred place of embalming with a murdered corpse? Pharaoh Tutankhamun orders Lord Meren, his chief investigator, to find out quickly, before power-mad priests use the incident to undermine his royal authority. Everyone is a suspect, for the body belongs to the notorious scribe Hormin, hated by all who knew him. However, Lord Meren is no mere courtier but the Eyes and Ears of the living god. In the terrifying Place of Anubis, where unquiet spirits dwell, in the sunstruck city of Thebes, where Hormin's sons and his beautiful concubine plot, and in the royal court, where intrigues abound, Lord Meren hunts his quarry, peeling back the secrets of nobles and slaves in his quest for the truth. But more important by far is Meren's responsibility to protect the young Pharaoh from his enemies -- who are no farther away than the length of a dagger.

When Kings Walked As Living Gods It is the eighteenth dynasty of Queen Maatkare Hatshepsut, divine ruler of a sun-seared realm. And blood flows as freely as the great, winding Nile that nourishes this ancient land of intrigue and danger. Lieutenant Bak is a loyal servant of the royal...  more

When Kings Walked As Living Gods It is the eighteenth dynasty of Queen Maatkare Hatshepsut, divine ruler of a sun-seared realm. And blood flows as freely as the great, winding Nile that nourishes this ancient land of intrigue and danger. Lieutenant Bak is a loyal servant of the royal house of Egypt -- commander of the Medjay police in the frontier fortress city of Buhen. A man of honor and ability, it is he who must oversee the corps assigned to accompany the golden idol, the god Amon, on its journey up the Nile to heal the ailing son of a powerful tribal king. But the mighty river has yielded up a sinister "treasure": the body of a brave soldier horrifically slain for reasons unknown. And only the drawings of a missing mute boy can help Bak unravel the mystery of the officer's foul death -- before it leads to far greater crimes that could imperil an empire.

There is much that is entertaining in Elizabethan England, colorful and merrie for both Good Queen Bess and her people. But there are matters savage and murderous, too, and it is the County Constable Matthew Stock, a humble clothier by trade, and his practical-minded wife Joan who oft must set...  more

There is much that is entertaining in Elizabethan England, colorful and merrie for both Good Queen Bess and her people. But there are matters savage and murderous, too, and it is the County Constable Matthew Stock, a humble clothier by trade, and his practical-minded wife Joan who oft must set things right - in a widely acclaimed mystery series as rich in historical detail as it is in suspense. They Were A Small Player's Troupe, Come To Perform For A Lord And His Lady.... And none of the rag-tag group shone more than the young players' boy, with his flaxen hair and fine features. Indeed, he had won a scullery maid's heart, and it was she, at cock's crow, who went searching for him in the stables where he slept. But, alas, she found him dead - murdered in a most gruesome way. And now Constable Matthew must search high and low, form a Lord's castle to a disreputable inn, to find the person who dealt such an ungodly blow....

An all-new series, featuring a seamlessly integrated blend of ancient history and intriguing mystery that could only come from the international and USA Today bestselling authors of The First North Americans series. Award-winning archaeologists Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear have...  more

An all-new series, featuring a seamlessly integrated blend of ancient history and intriguing mystery that could only come from the international and USA Today bestselling authors of The First North Americans series. Award-winning archaeologists Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear have enriched and entertained an avid international audience of millions with their rousing historical epic of the pre-Columbian peoples of North America. Now these master storytellers turn to the American Southwest, to one of the most enigmatic people to ever inhabit this continent--the Anasazi. At its pinnacle in A.D. 1150, their empire was vast and sophisticated, unequaled until the arrival of the Europeans. Dr. Maureen Cole, one of the world's foremost physical anthropologists, has been called in to examine and evaluate a mass grave discovered in New Mexico. The burial site contains only the shattered skulls of women and children. Dr. Cole is appalled at the find and begins working immediately to unravel the mystery of these deaths. But as she works, strange things begin to happen around her. Little incidents at first, then her generator quits, and she begins to hear whispering voices emanating from the plastic bag of bones. In the nearby canyons, just a scant few moments ago in geologic time, a series of brutal murders has terrified the Katsinas' People. Their war chief, Browser, wanders the canyon rim at night, alone and terrified, searching for the killer. Eight women have been savagely murdered. Their bodies were dragged through the village, then disappeared. Browser desperately turns to the crazy old man they call "Stone Ghost." They say he has powers, but Browser has secrets he dare not allow anyone to reveal--even if it means that everything and everyone he loves will fall in the path of a ruthless murderer. Is the barrier between one time and another merely a construct of perception originating in the human mind? Whatever it is that separates the past and the present has grown perilously thin as a killer stalks helpless victims in two different centuries.

The first book in an exciting new series featuring Leonardo da Vinci and his young apprentice. Court Engineer Leonardo da Vinci conjures a living chess game for the Duke of Milan using his royal court as chess pieces. But when one 'piece' is murdered, da Vinci's scrupulous eye for...  more

The first book in an exciting new series featuring Leonardo da Vinci and his young apprentice. Court Engineer Leonardo da Vinci conjures a living chess game for the Duke of Milan using his royal court as chess pieces. But when one 'piece' is murdered, da Vinci's scrupulous eye for detail is needed to find the killer.

The first in the bestselling Danish series of historical mysteries The newly crowned King Cnut of Denmark has conquered England and rules his new empire from Oxford. The year is 1018 and the war is finally over, but the unified kingdom is far from peaceful. Halfdan?s mixed lineage?half Danish,...  more

The first in the bestselling Danish series of historical mysteries The newly crowned King Cnut of Denmark has conquered England and rules his new empire from Oxford. The year is 1018 and the war is finally over, but the unified kingdom is far from peaceful. Halfdan?s mixed lineage?half Danish, half Saxon?has made him a pauper in the new kingdom. His father, his brother, and the land he should have inherited were all taken by the new king?s men. He lost everything to the war but his sense of humor. Once a proud nobleman, Halfdan now wanders the country aimlessly, powered only by his considerable charm and some petty theft. When he finds an unlikely ally in Winston, a former monk, he sees no reason not to accept his strange invitation to travel together to Oxford. Winston has been commissioned to paint a portrait of the king at the invitation of his new wife, and the protection of a clever man like Halfdan is well worth its price in wine and bread. But when the pair?s arrival in court coincides with news of a murder, the king has a brilliant idea: Why not enlist the newly arrived womanizing half-Dane and the Saxon intellectual to defuse a politically explosive situation? The pair represents both sides of the conflict and seem to have crime-solving skills to boot. In their search for the killer, Halfdan and Winston find seduction, adventure, and scandal in the wild early days of Cnut?s rule.

A MILLER FOUND UNDER HIS WHEEL It's 1194 and Sir Faucon de Ramis, the shire's newly appointed Keeper of the Pleas, must do his duty and make an official declaration of the cause of a miller's death. Saddled with a clerk who names Faucon his 'penance', the shire's first Crowner must thread the...  more

A MILLER FOUND UNDER HIS WHEEL It's 1194 and Sir Faucon de Ramis, the shire's newly appointed Keeper of the Pleas, must do his duty and make an official declaration of the cause of a miller's death. Saddled with a clerk who names Faucon his 'penance', the shire's first Crowner must thread the tangled relationships between the sheriff, the village of Priors Holston and the priory that once ruled it. As a simple task takes a turn to the political, what seems obvious isn't and what appears safe turns out to be more dangerous than he could imagine.

In September 1560 Robert Dudley's wife, Amy Robsart, was found lying with a broken neck.Many suspected foul play. The Queen - in love with Dudley - had a motive.  Thus begins a personal quest for Ursula Blanchard, an impoverished widow newly come to court, through which she will uncover...  more

In September 1560 Robert Dudley's wife, Amy Robsart, was found lying with a broken neck.Many suspected foul play. The Queen - in love with Dudley - had a motive.  Thus begins a personal quest for Ursula Blanchard, an impoverished widow newly come to court, through which she will uncover a plot against the Queen and learn the truth behind Amy's death.

Menedemos was born with enough confidence for three men, and he can switch from threats to charm and back again. But he can also be foolhardy--for instance, risking everything for the chance at another man's wife. Sostratos can perform unheard-of feats with numbers, he knows the old...  more

Menedemos was born with enough confidence for three men, and he can switch from threats to charm and back again. But he can also be foolhardy--for instance, risking everything for the chance at another man's wife. Sostratos can perform unheard-of feats with numbers, he knows the old histories and the natural sciences--but he lacks the common touch and, Menedemos would say, common sense. Each of them has strengths the other lacks. Now, in the troubled waters off of Sicily, they face a chance at untold riches . . . if they can evade the massed strength of the Carthaginian fleet.  

Book II of the internationally bestselling phenomenon Tales of the Otori trilogy, Grass for His Pillow returns us to a mythical, medieval Japan, in a story of clashing powers, divided loyalties, and passionate love played out on a dazzling landscape. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year,...  more

Book II of the internationally bestselling phenomenon Tales of the Otori trilogy, Grass for His Pillow returns us to a mythical, medieval Japan, in a story of clashing powers, divided loyalties, and passionate love played out on a dazzling landscape. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, one of Book magazine's best novels of the year, and one of School Library Journal's Best Adult Books for High School Readers (2002), Across the Nightingale Floor was an international bestseller and critical success, named "the most compelling novel to have been published this year" by the Times (London). In this second tale, we return to the land of harsh beauty and deceptive appearances where we first met Takeo -- the young orphan taken up by the Otori Lord and now a closely held member of the Tribe -- and his beloved Shirakawa Kaede, heir to the Maruyama and alone in the world, who must find a way to unify the domain she has inherited. In a complex social hierarchy, amid dissembling clans and fractured allegiances, there is no place for passionate young love. Yet Takeo and Kaede, drawing on their unusual talents and hidden strengths, must make their way in this tale of longing, ambition, and intrigue. Grass for His Pillow is a tantalizing next installment in a brilliantly imaginative and critically acclaimed series.

For Tanus, the fair-haired young lion of a warrior, the gods have decreed that he will lead Egypt's army in a bold attempt to reunite the Kingdom's shared halves. But Tanus will have to defy the same gods to attain the reward they have forbidden him, an object more prized than battle's glory:...  more

For Tanus, the fair-haired young lion of a warrior, the gods have decreed that he will lead Egypt's army in a bold attempt to reunite the Kingdom's shared halves. But Tanus will have to defy the same gods to attain the reward they have forbidden him, an object more prized than battle's glory: possession of the Lady Lostris, a rare beauty with skin the color of oiled ceder--destined for the adoration of a nation, and the love of one extraordinary man.