Murder Most Treasonable
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4.9 • 8 Ratings
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- £7.99
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
Spies, secrets and suspicious circumstances: Friar-sleuth Brother Athelstan races against time to solve impossible crimes and uncover a traitor in this gripping historical mystery set in medieval London.
London. March, 1382. Deep in the shadows, a clandestine organization known as the Secret Chancery operates under the sinister leadership of John of Gaunt's Master of Secrets. When two clerks from this covert group meet their demise in suspicious circumstances, friar-sleuth Brother Athelstan is urgently summoned to unravel the truth behind their deaths.
A puzzling question lies at the heart of the investigation: how did the killer manage to navigate a labyrinth of locked doors, leaving no trace behind? As Brother Athelstan delves deeper into the mystery, a terrifying threat also emerges: the possibility of treason. King Richard's spies in France are also dying, almost as if someone's discovered exactly who they are . . .
Brother Athelstan must race against the clock to uncover the truth before he and his companions get tangled up in the hunt for the traitor, with fatal consequences for them all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Doherty's 22nd whodunit featuring 14th-century friar Athelstan (after The Hanging Tree) is as fresh as ever. England's King Richard II, attempting to realize his ancestors' imperial ambitions, has set his sights on the French crown. With the two nations maintaining a fragile peace, a series of murders and intelligence breaches threaten to spark an all-out war. England's spy chief, Master Thibault, has been relying on information from Nightingale, a mole in the French court in Paris, to maintain a civil relationship with the country. Soon after Nightingale warns Thibault that the French have sent some of their most dangerous agents to England, his espionage network is disrupted by the disappearance of several informants. Then two of Thibault's own clerks are murdered, one in a chamber locked and bolted from the inside. Sir John Cranston, London's Lord High Coroner, asks his friend, Athelstan, to help him investigate the killings, and any possible connections they may have to the international tensions. As he digs into the case, Athelstan turns up chilling evidence that the British may have a mole on their hands. Doherty doles out clues shrewdly and decorates the narrative with his characteristically sharp period details. This long-running series has yet to show signs of slowing down.
