The Service of the Dead

by Candace Robb Book 1 in the Kate Clifford series.

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3.9(910)

York, 1399. Young widow Kate Clifford is attempting to pay the debts left by her husband by running a guesthouse near the Minster and discreet rooms used by wealthy merchants. The murder of a guest and the disappearance of the woman who accompanied him threaten scandal, financial ruin and the safety of Kate's household.

The crime unfolds while the realm divides between Richard II and his exiled cousin Henry Bolingbroke. Drawing on the survival skills she learned on the northern marches, Kate investigates her clients, servants and political connections, aware that the victim may have been killed not only for private reasons but because York's commercial elite is choosing sides in the approaching struggle for the crown.