June 1381. Rebel forces are gathering outside London as anger over taxation, lordship and royal government moves towards open revolt. John of Gaunt is away from the capital and the young Richard II is exposed to a political crisis that threatens both Crown and Church. Brother Athelstan’s first concern is the safety of his Southwark parish, but he is drawn into an investigation with consequences for the king himself.
The case centres on a royal death that occurred more than fifty years earlier during the fall of Edward II. As Athelstan and Sir John Cranston examine the old crime, the leaders of the present revolt prepare their own assault on authority. The mystery links the unresolved violence of one reign to the instability of another, forcing Athelstan to solve a historical murder while London moves towards rebellion.
David Field
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C. F. Dunn
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Philippa Gregory
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Christian Cameron
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Paul Bannister
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