The time is the late 1640s, the place, the New England coast. A young woman has been found dead, stripped naked and thrown in a river. Her husband has mysteriously halted his legal proceedings against the most likely suspect, who has disappeared into the wilderness. Based on an actual unsolved murder that took place in colonial New Hampshire, Robert J. Begiebing's THE STRANGE DEATH OF MISTRESS COFFIN is at once a spellbinding mystery and a fascinating evocation of life in early America. "Unusual and mesmerizing. A striking and original work by a gifted writer with an extraordinary feeling for the past."--E. Annie Proulx, The New York Times Book Review; "Begiebing illuminates 'the dark and wonderful intricacy' of the human heart."-- Yankee. A MYSTERY BOOK CLUB MAIN SELECTION and a LITERARY GUILD SELECTION.

New England. 1648. The Piscataqua Settlement. A young woman has been found dead, her violated body stripped naked and thrown in a river. Her husband, a reclusive and learned man, has mysteriously halted his legal proceedings against the most likely suspect, who has disappeared into the wilderness. The settlement's elders call on a young Englishman, Richard Browne, to discover the truth about what happened. But the more he learns, the more puzzling the crime becomes, and the more he finds himself drawn to the wife of the missing suspect. Based on an actual unsolved murder from the records of colonial America, Robert J. Begiebing's The Strange Death of Mistress Coffin is at once a spellbinding mystery and a fascinating evocation of life in early America.

Mystery set in 17th century New Hampshire and based on an actual unsolved murder.

Robert J. Begiebing's first novel, The Strange Death of Mistress Coffin, was hailed by Annie Proulx in the New York Times Book Review as "a striking and original work by a gifted writer with an extraordinary feeling for the past." Begiebing delivers on the promise of that first book with his new novel, a lively, colorful, and exciting "portrait of the artist as a young woman" set in the early years of the republic.

When the bodies of two people are discovered in the remains of an arson fire that destroyed Glastonbury Abbey, Adelia Aguilar, Mistress of the Art of Death, is ordered by Henry II to determine if one of the sets of bones belongs to the legendary Celtic savior Arthur.