1. Falconer’s Crusade
Oxford, winter 1264. As Henry III’s conflict with the barons moves towards civil war, new student Thomas Symon is mistaken for the killer of a young woman. Regent Master William Falconer rescues him from a mob and treats the accusation as a problem to be tested…
2. Falconer’s Judgement
Oxford, spring 1261. While Pope Alexander IV lies dying and church factions manoeuvre over the succession, a student protest at Oseney Abbey ends with the death of Bishop Otho’s brother. The authorities arrest the protesters, but Falconer sees no convincing motive and doubts the official account.…
3. Falconer and the Face of God
Winchester and Oxford, Christmas 1268. A theatrical performance ends in a real killing when an actor is stabbed on stage. Soon after, a troupe of jongleurs arrives in Oxford, and a second performer dies during another play. Falconer investigates the company’s rivalries while also pursuing a…
4. A Psalm for Falconer
England, 1268. Falconer leaves Oxford to examine scientific manuscripts associated with Robert Grosseteste at a remote priory beside Lancaster Bay. His arrival coincides with the recovery of a monk’s skeleton from the tidal sands, revealing a murder concealed for fifteen years. Missing books, monastic ambition and…
5. Falconer and the Great Beast
Oxford, 1268. A Mongol delegation arrives seeking an audience with Henry III, unsettling a town already fascinated by the king’s elephant and suspicious of strangers. Falconer is appointed to receive the envoys, but negotiations collapse after their leader, Chimbai, stages an apparent resurrection and is then…
6. Falconer and the Ritual of Death
Oxford, 1271. Demolition work exposes a headless skeleton sealed in the foundations of an old building. A ring suggests that the victim was connected to a missing Templar and to events in 1250, when Falconer first arrived in the city. When one of the discoverers is…
7. Falconer’s Trial
Oxford, 1272. Lady Ann Segrim, Falconer’s former lover, is found poisoned, and the evidence is arranged to make him the obvious suspect. Imprisoned and facing trial, Falconer must depend on Peter Bullock and Thomas Symon to apply his methods without him. Ann had been investigating the…
8. Falconer and the Death of Kings
Paris, 1273. While Edward I travels towards his coronation, an assassin wounds him with a poisoned knife. Troubled by earlier deaths in his family, the king orders William Falconer—already in Paris to help Roger Bacon—to determine who is attacking the royal household. The deaths of a…
9. Falconer and the Rain of Blood
Oxford, 1275. Smallpox has placed the town under quarantine while unrest in Wales strains Edward I’s rule. Within the university, someone is stealing and destroying books judged blasphemous, and Falconer is asked to identify the culprit. The thefts turn into murders as scholars are killed in…