When a royal servant is murdered, Templar Bascot de Marins is once again called upon to serve justice—and protect a royal secret. NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED As King Phillip of France leads a devastating attack on Normandy, defection spreads among once-loyal English vassals. King John is even forced to imprison his own nephew Arthur for treacherous acts. And when Arthur suddenly disappears, John must keep his mysterious absence a closely guarded secret, or face even greater dissent among the nobles. Fleeing Normandy, King John and Queen Isabella hope to find safe haven at their royal residence in Canterbury. But they soon discover that no haven is truly safe. When one of John’s servants is murdered, it seems that he and Isabella were the intended targets. John suspects the murderer was a Breton bent on avenging Arthur. Asking Templar Bascot de Marins to investigate the crime, he also asks him to protect the secret of Arthur’s disappearance. But as Bascot and his protégé Gianni follow the murderer’s trail, they find themselves caught between the King’s machinations and the constraints of justice.

As the travellers set out on their pilgrimage, the first tale of death and deceit falls to the Knight... Paul Doherty relates the Knight's tale in An Ancient Evil - a tale of mystery and murder as he goes on pilgrimage from London to Canterbury. Perfect for fans of Ellis Peters and Susanna Gregory. As the travellers gather in the Tabard Inn at the start of a pilgrimage to pray before the blessed bones of St Thomas à Becket in Canterbury, they agree eagerly to host Harry's suggestion of amusing themselves on each day of their journey with one tale, and each evening with another - but the latter to be of mystery, terror and murder. The Knight begins that evening: his tale opens with the destruction of a sinister cult at its stronghold in the wilds of Oxfordshire by Sir Hugo Mortimer during the reign of William the Conqueror, and then moves to Oxford some two hundred years later where strange crimes and terrible murders are being committed. The authorities seem powerless but Lady Constance, Abbess of the Convent of St Anne's, believes the murders are connected with the legends of the cult and she petitions the King for help. As the murders continue unabated, special commissioner Sir Godfrey Evesden and royal clerk Alexander McBain uncover clues that lead to a macabre world sect, which worships the dark lord. But they can find no solution to a series of increasingly baffling questions, and matters are not helped by the growing rift between Sir Godfrey and McBain for the hand and favour of the fair Lady Emily... What readers are saying about Canterbury Tales Mysteries: 'Simply one of the best books ever written' 'An intriguing tale which keeps one entertained up to the last page' 'Spellbinding'

T. S. Eliot's most famous drama, a retelling of the murder of the archbishop of Canterbury Murder in the Cathedral, written for the Canterbury Festival in 1935, was one of T. S. Eliot’s first dramatic achievements, and it remains one of the great plays of the century. It takes as its subject matter the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, depicting the events that led to his assassination, in his own cathedral church, by the knights of Henry II in 1170. Like Greek drama, the play’s theme and form are rooted in religion, ritual purgation and renewal, and it was this return to the earliest sources of drama that brought poetry triumphantly back to the English stage at the time. "The theatre is enriched by this poetic play of grave beauty and momentous decision." —The New York Times

Christmas is murder-- when you're stranded in East Sussex with a killer. When guests at a secluded Victorian hotel start dying, all hopes for a jolly holiday are dashed.

To escape a lifetime of poverty, mercenary Sir Benedict Palmer agrees to one final, lucrative job: help King Henry II's knights seize the traitor Archbishop Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. But what begins as a clandestine arrest ends in cold-blooded murder. And when Fitzurse, the knights' ringleader, kidnaps Theodosia, a beautiful young nun who witnessed the crime, Palmer can sit silently by no longer. For not only is Theodosia's virtue at stake, so too is the secret she unknowingly carries--a secret he knows Fitzurse will torture out of her. Now Palmer and Theodosia are on the run, strangers from different worlds forced to rely only on each other as they race to uncover the hidden motive behind Becket's grisly murder--and the shocking truth that could destroy a kingdom.

Eleven classic whodunits starring master sleuths such as Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Father Brown. A superstar lineup of detectives—including Sherlock Holmes, C. Auguste Dupin, and Hercule Poirot—headlines this elegant leather-bound edition of classic mystery stories. Short stories such as Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and G. K. Chesterton’s “The Blue Cross” are ideal for a cozy evening by the fire, while novels like Agatha Christie’s The Murder on the Links and Jules Verne’s An Antarctic Mystery will keep you engrossed for days. The eleven works in this volume are preceded by a scholarly introduction that explores the origins of the genre, as well as the development of the modern mystery story and the contributions made by each author. Works Included Short stories: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," Edgar Allan Poe "The Adventure of the Creeping Man," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "The Blue Cross," G. K. Chesterton "The Coin of Dionysius," Ernest Bramah "The Anthropologist at Large," R. Austin Freeman "The Most Dangerous Game," Richard Connell Novels: The Murder on the Links, Agatha Christie Whose Body?, Dorothy Sayers The Thirty-nine Steps, John Buchan An Antarctic Mystery, Jules Verne Room 13, Edgar Wallace