The Riddle Of St Leonard's
(The Owen Archer Mysteries: book V): a compelling and evocative Medieval murder mystery…
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4.1 • 14 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
Let Candace Robb take you back in time to Medieval York in this enthralling, authentic and gripping mystery, full of incident and intrigue. Fans of Ellis Peters, S J Parris, Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell will love this!
'Gripping and believable... you can almost smell the streets of fourteenth-century York as you delve into an engrossing plot' -- Prima
'Robb is uncommonly good at period atmosphere, immersing the reader in the everyday horrors of the plague... she distinguishes herself by putting together an engrossing puzzle' -- Publishers Weekly
'Hugely, but subtly, detailed... complex, ambiguous and gripping' - Historical Novels Review
'An excellent and enjoyable read' -- ***** Reader review
'A ripping good yarn!' -- ***** Reader review
'A most addictive read' -- ***** Reader review
'A fascinating, realistic and vivid read' -- ***** Reader review
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AN UNEXPLAINED SPATE OF DEATHS CAUSES SUSPICION...ARE THEY ACCIDENTAL OR METICULOUSLY PLANNED?
1369: The much loved Queen Philippa lies dying at Windsor, and the plague has returned to the city of York. In an atmosphere of fear and superstition, rumours spread that a spate of deaths at St Leonard's Hospital in York is no accident. The hospital is in debt and has suffered thefts: Sir Richard de Ravenser, Master of the Hospital, returns from Winchester painfully aware that scandal could ruin his own career. Anxious to avert a crisis, he requests the services of Owen Archer, spy for the Archbishop.
With plague rife and the city's inhabitants besieging his wife, the Apothecary, for new cures, Owen Archer is unwilling to become involved. There is too little to link the victims to each other: the riddle seems unsolvable.
But careful enquiries reveal a further riddle, connected to one of the victims. Is this where the truth lies?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her fifth absorbing Owen Archer mystery (The King's Bishop, etc.), Robb suggests that cost-cutting in the health-care establishment is not new. The plague is taking its toll in 14th-century York, and all the one-eyed former royal spy wants is to weather it without losing any family members. However, Owen is called to detective duty by the master of St. Leonard's Hospital when its pensioners start dying in rapid succession. Since the hospital is in dire financial straits and the pensioners are a drain on its funds, the obvious conclusion is that someone there is aggressively cutting costs. But Owen, in his methodical, painstaking way, refuses to accept easy answers. It seems that, on his deathbed, one of the old men told his niece that he had been poisoned. Intrigued by the uncle's long-ago dealings as a local smuggler, Owen begins to think that the hospital may only have been the place, not the cause, of the man's murder. After finding a connection among all the victims, he goes back and forth between hospital lay sisters of dubious virtue and the sad ending of the smuggler's tale before he finds the truth. Robb is uncommonly good at period atmosphere, immersing the reader in the everyday horrors of the plague; but she distinguishes herself, too, by putting together an engrossing puzzle.
