In the spring of 1312 Edward II remains absorbed by Peter Gaveston while Queen Isabella prepares to give birth. Her father, Philip IV of France, sends his master of secrets Amaury de Craon to influence events in England. Hugh Corbett is ordered to watch the French agent, and both men take lodging at the Benedictine abbey of St Michael’s in Ashdown Forest.
The abbey houses a celebrated diamond known as the Glory of Heaven, but the stone is stolen and its guardian murdered soon after the rival spies arrive. Further deaths, a fatal fire and reports of a demonic figure turn the isolated community into a place of fear. Corbett must separate a political mission from crimes rooted in the abbey’s own concealed history.
The abbey’s isolation intensifies Corbett’s problem because ecclesiastical privilege, local fear and international politics all limit straightforward interrogation. The missing jewel has religious and material value, while de Craon’s presence ensures that any discovery may affect relations with France. Corbett must determine which crimes arise from the king’s political struggle and which have been hidden for years behind the community’s sacred reputation.
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