Medieval Historical Fiction Mystery

Sword of Shame is the second collaboration by five of the UK's finest historical mystery writers. Each brings their own characters to these interlinked tales, which tell the story of a cursed Norman sword. From its first arrival in Britain, with the Norman forces of William the Conqueror, violence and revenge are the cursed sword's constant companions.

In the spring of 1277, Prioress Eleanor goes on a pilgrimage to a famous East Anglian shrine. There are rumors that King Edward may also visit the shrine soon to seek God's blessing for his invasion of Wales. Lurking in this sacred place, however, is an assassin hoping to murder a king. Soon after Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas arrive, a nun falls to her death from the priory bell tower. Brother Thomas finds the body, and the pair quickly grasp that this nun's death was not an accident.

Penda, a warrior of immense renown, has much to prove if he is to rule the Mercian kingdom of his dead father and prevent the neighboring king of Northumbria from claiming it. Unexpectedly allying with the British kings, Penda races to battle the alliance of the Northumbrian king, unsure if his brother stands with him or against him as they seek battle glory for themselves, and the right to rule gained through bloody conquest. There will be a victor and a bloody loser and a king will rise from the ashes of the great and terrible battle of Hædfeld.

Richard has lost everything to Andrew Kineer, even his identity. Whether he will be able to reclaim it remains to be seen. The backdrop to their own struggle is the political tension in England. Mary I, convinced God has given her the task of returning England to the true faith, sends the Protestant reformers a stark and violent message.

August 1284. On the heels of King Edward's triumph over Wales, he receives the worst news possible: His eldest living son and heir to the throne of England has died. Concerned that his victories in Wales, and even more the means by which he came by them, have brought the wrath of the Almighty down upon his house, King Edward sends Catrin and Rhys to Windsor Castle to investigate. But although they find victims and villains aplenty, their far greater test is managing the expectations of a grieving king, who fears his son was murdered - and fears even more that he wasn't.

A hidden hoard of Saxon gold. A poisoned priest. A monk skinned alive in Westminster Abbey. Only one thing is certain: whoever comes into possession of the cursed book meets a gruesome and untimely end.

Politics, religion, and international intrigue paint a gripping portrait of England in the months prior to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, but in a book where there are no pure ideals, perfect heroes, or irredeemable villains, history becomes personal. Schism splits the Catholic Church, a teenaged king sits on England’s throne, John Wycliffe protests, Piers Plowman complains, Geoffrey Chaucer tells tales.

Imprisoned in Damascus, Dragonetz suffers the mind games inflicted by his anonymous enemies as he is forced to remember the traumatic events of the crusade two years earlier. His military prowess is as valuable and dangerous to the balance of power as the priceless Torah he has to deliver to Jerusalem, and the key players want Dragonetz riding with them—or dead. Instead of remaining safely at home, Estela is desperate to rescue Dragonetz at all costs. She sets out for the Holy Land, never realizing that the person she thinks will be her knight's savior might actually be his doom.

Året är 1346 och Sveriges kung Magnus Eriksson reser mot Skåne för ett betydelsefullt bröllop som ska stärka freden mellan Sverige och Danmark. Kungen är ovetande om att en grupp svenska adelsmän planerar ett blodigt uppror. Kvar på Stockholms slott är drottning Blanche och de två prinsarna. Adelsman Lars Karlsson slits mellan sina lojaliteter - ska han följa sina vänner i förräderiet, eller ska han värna den oskyldiga drottningens och barnens liv? "Blodbokens tid" är en trilogi fylld av spänning, maktkamp och het romantik.

Nella notte del 10/11/1075 D.C., alle Laudi l'Abate Desiderio viene svegliato dalle grida del suo pupillo, Oderisio. Precipitatosi in Biblioteca, davanti ai suoi occhi si presenta la macabra scena di un Frate assassinato in maniera spietata. Ma quel tragico avvenimento sarà solo l'inizio della fine. Il giorno dopo un altro Frate viene barbaramente ucciso, mentre un misterioso forestiero trovato in fin di vita davanti all'Abbazia. I delitti sembrano ruotare attorno a delle frasi di Platone; fino a quando non entra in scena, una ragazza. L'Abbazia piomba nello sconforto e nelle tenebre.

Oswald de Lacy, Lord of Somershill, sits at his mother's deathbed. Before she dies, he must make a confession. He needs to tell of the days when he was 18 years old, the third, disregarded son of the family, sent off to become a monk, working in the infirmary while plague raged outside the monastery. Of how he was sent to a nearby village and witnessed the death of a local girl, and how he swore to investigate...and how he was drawn into a crime so dark and terrifying, it haunts him - and his family - still.

April 1150. War has come yet again to Ceredigion, and Prince Hywel marches south alongside his wily uncle, preparing to battle his own cousins. Meanwhile, Gareth and Gwen learn of murder and treachery among the Hospitallers, who are succoring the ill and wounded within the army. As they investigate, even in the midst of war, they uncover not only murder, but treason and betrayal as well—and inadvertently set the stage for that long-awaited final reckoning within King Owain’s court.

Nachdem Robin Hood einen korrupten, aber mächtigen Kirchenmann zusammengeschlagen hat, flieht er aus dem einzigen Heim, das er je gekannt hat—Wakefield in Yorkshire. Er wird zum Mitglied einer berüchtigten Band von Geächteten, und Hood und seine neuen Kameraden—einschließlich John Little und Will Scaflock—verstecken sich im großen Wald von Barnsdale, wo sie um ihr bloßes Leben kämpfen, als das Gesetz sie wie Tiere jagt.

Von der Eifel an den Rhein: Ein Frauenschicksal im Mittelalter. Luzia verbringt mit ihrer Herrschaft die Wintermonate in Koblenz. Die Bauerntochter ist überwältigt: Das Leben in der Stadt ist so aufregend! Ihr Glück scheint vollkommen, als der Gewürzhändler Martin Wied sie um ihre Mitarbeit bittet: Ingwerwurzeln, Safranfäden, Paradieskörner, Zitronenöl, Muskatnuss - Luzia entdeckt ihre Passion. Ihr Verkaufstalent, ebenso wie ihr hübsches Äußeres, bleibt auch anderen nicht verborgen. Ausgerechnet Siegfried Thal, der Sohn von Martins größtem Konkurrenten, will Luzia zur Frau.

Ende des 14. Jahrhunderts. Im Hunsrück herrscht das Geschlecht der Grafen von Sponheim. Kriege und Auseinandersetzungen mit dem mächtigen Kurfürsten von Trier und umherstreifenden Räuberhorden sind keine Seltenheit. Abraham Nagel, der Scharfrichter von Birkenfeld, stirbt bei einer Hinrichtung unter mysteriösen Umständen. Sein halbwüchsiger Sohn Rudolf wird noch in der gleichen Nacht an einen anderen Ort, nach Kastellaun, gebracht. Zwölf Jahre später kehrt Rudolf in seine Heimatstadt zurück, um den Tod seines Vaters aufzuklären.

With Isabella and Molay both trapped in Paris, the weight of the world hangs on the shoulders of two unsuspecting nuns who are caught up in a game of control for the medieval world. Sister Fransie and Sister Caroline must flee France and smuggle the key to the Templars' greatest secret across the Camino de Santiago. On their pilgrimage, the sisters are forced to face the seven deadly sins, which have taken on a physical form and threaten to stop them at every turn.

In 1066, 16-year-old Saxon Cerdic lives with his elder brother, Unferth, and his father, Rothgar, Earl of Ripon, in Swaledale. As the younger brother, he studies for the priesthood while Unferth trains to take on the mantle of earl one day. When news arrives that the King of Norway, Harald Hardraada, is invading northern England with the treacherous Tostig Godwinson, Earl Rothgar joins the northern nobles to repel them.

AD 1045. Godwin of Wessex, one of the most powerful earls in the country, prepares for the marriage of his daughter to King Edward of England. The mood is jubilant, his family's relationship with the Crown secured through matrimony. But one man seeks to undermine him at every opportunity.

Bologna, dicembre 1311. Mondino de' Liuzzi, medico anatomista, viene incaricato dal podestà di far luce su una morte strana e orribile: un membro del Consiglio degli Anziani è stato rinvenuto carbonizzato in casa sua, eppure nella stanza nulla fa pensare a un incendio. Perfino la poltrona su cui l'uomo era seduto è rimasta quasi integra, mentre il corpo è bruciato in modo irregolare. I piedi sono illesi, un braccio è interamente ustionato, tutto il resto è ridotto in cenere. Mondino fa trasportare le spoglie nel suo studio per esaminarle.

After the death of his mother, young Alwin of Whittaker leaves the only home he has ever known to seek answers about his unknown father through a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. On the journey, Alwin falls in with a band of violent and marauding soldiers and is witness to their terrible crimes. When Alwin later joins up with a group of pilgrims, he must hide his identity...but he is not the only one with secrets to keep. Rosamund, a young woman travelling the same path, has much to conceal too.