Relics of the Dead

by Ariana Franklin Book 3 in the Mistress of the Art of Death series.

First published 2009

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England, 1176. A fire at Glastonbury Abbey exposes two buried skeletons, one unusually tall and the other smaller, and rumours spread that the remains belong to King Arthur and Guinevere. Henry II wants the claim tested. The legend of Arthur still carries political force in Wales, and proof that the Once and Future King is truly dead would serve the king's attempt to weaken resistance to Angevin rule.

Adelia Aguilar is sent to examine the bones while Rowley Picot investigates the destruction of the abbey. What begins as an exercise in anatomy and identification becomes a murder inquiry when it becomes clear that someone at Glastonbury is determined to control what the investigators discover. Franklin uses the medieval creation of Arthurian history, the politics of Henry II's relations with Wales and the physical world of a ruined monastery to make the disputed relics both a forensic puzzle and a weapon of royal policy.