Review
"Robb continues to adeptly blend politics with period detail and three-dimensioned characterization in the Owen Archer tales." --Publishers Weekly

"A superb medieval mystery thoroughly grounded in historical fact." --Booklist



Review
"Robb continues to adeptly blend politics with period detail and three-dimensioned characterization in the Owen Archer tales." --Publishers Weekly

"A superb medieval mystery thoroughly grounded in historical fact." --Booklist



Review
"Robb continues to adeptly blend politics with period detail and three-dimensioned characterization in the Owen Archer tales." --Publishers Weekly

"A superb medieval mystery thoroughly grounded in historical fact." --Booklist



Book Description
From the murky Thames to the misty Moors of the North, murder stalks Welsh soldier-sleuth Owen Archer and his dearest friend...

It is 1367. When Sir William of Wyndesore's page is found drowned in the icy Windsor Castle moat, some say he was done away with by Ned Townley-soldier, spy, and jealous lover, But Ned's struggle to prove his innocence to his ladylove, Mary, is thwarted by his abrupt dispatch to Yorkshire on a royal mission.

Soon an unseen hand speeds Mary to a watery grave, while hot-tempered Ned vanishes in the northern wilds. And Archer, his old comrade-in-arms, must pursue him through a tangle of threats and butchered corpses, to save his life...or to bring him to justice. Owen, with his one sound eye, can see more than most with two, but what the bold ex-archer spies-with the help of his apothecary wife Lucie-will enmesh him and his friend in the dark and bloody intrigues of Church, crown, and court.



About the Author
Candace M. Robb, author of The Apothecary Rose, The Lady Chapel, The Nun's Tale, The King's Bishop, and A Gift of Sanctuary, lives with her family in Seattle, Washington, and makes frequent trips to England to research her novels. She teaches a mystery writing class at the University of Washington.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

It is 1367, and the Pope and King Edward III of England are in disagreement over pluralism, a practice that allows one man to hold many state and church offices at the same time. The Pope does not want to dilute his authority by allowing church leaders to hold government offices, which would oblige them to obey and report to King Edward. Naturally, subverting the Pope's authority doesn't bother King Edward at all, and he wishes to make one of the richest pluralists, William of Wykeham, the next Bishop of Winchester. To undermine the Pope's position, King Edward sends a mission, led by one-eyed soldier-sleuth Owen Archer, to convince the powerful abbots of Fountains and Rievaulx to support his nomination of William of Wykeham. When that mission is disrupted by murder, politics turn personal and Owen's case becomes his toughest yet: He must prove his friend Ned Townley innocent of murder.

FROM THE CRITICS

Kirkus Reviews

Robb's fourth chronicle of 14th-century church and crown power-plays, highlighting Owen Archer, her Welsh, one-eyed soldier hero (The Nun's Tale, 1996, etc.). King Edward is determined to make William of Wykeham the next Bishop of Winchester, despite the Pope's objections, and he needs the support of the influential Cistercian monks of the abbeys at Fountains and Rievaulx. Archer is to lead the group traveling north on that mission. Sharing the task is his friend Ned Townley, a spy for the Duke of Lancaster, the King's son, who is now in France. Ned is in trouble with the household soldiers of Sir William Wyndosore. Sir William's page Daniel has drowned after a threatening encounter with Ned—who was known to be wildly jealous of Daniel's innocent friendship with Ned's dearly beloved Mary, maid to the King's mistress Alice Perrers. The traveling mission has not reached its goal when Ned gets the news that Mary, too, has drowned. In short order, the group's friar Don Ambrose disappears, as do two of his soldiers. Ned is on the run, tagged a murderer, and only Archer can save him—with help from a surprising source and the revelation of a dark secret. Meantime, amid the proliferation of characters, long-winded conversations, chases through desolate landscapes, and detailed accounts of Archer's idyllic domestic interludes with his adored apothecary wife, only the incisive portraits of Alice Perrers and Lord Chancellor John Thoresby stand out. The rest is a jumbled scenario.

Likely to be appreciated mainly by history buffs and medievalists.