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.

1154, Oseney Priory, Oxford. When the first performance of The Play of Adamends in tragedy, the author is compelled to pen a grim warning for the generations that follow: 'BEWARE THE SINS OF ENVY AND VAINGLORY, ELSE FOUL MURDER ENDS YOUR STORY' But his words are not heeded, and as the play is performed in many guises throughout the ages, bad luck seems to follow after those involved in its production. When a snow storm diverts two disparate parties of travellers to the busy market town of Carmarthen in the winter of 1199, an enigmatic stranger appears and requests to stage the play to alleviate tensions, but on the eve of the performance the actor chosen to play Cain is found dead. When the play is performed in the city of Ely in 1361, the townspeople fear the play has unleashed a demon upon the town after a gruesome discovery is made in the Cathedral. And from Shakespeare's London to war-time Surrey, no matter the time or the place, each production always seems to end in disaster. Perhaps it is simply the curse of thespian rivalry that is to blame. Or does the story of man's first murder somehow infect all who re-enact it?