Candace M. Robb Knihy

When a young nun, Joanna Calverley, dies of fever in the town of Beverley, they waste no time in burying her, fearing the plague. But nine months later a woman turns up claiming to be Joanna, saying she faked her own death. When murder follows close on her heels, John Thoresby, Archbishop of York, knows he must enlist the help of his favourite detective, Owen Archer. While Owen sets off for Leeds and Scarborough to speak with the Percy family and Geoffrey Chaucer, who is spying for the King, his wife Lucie tries to discover from Joanna the events of her missing year. Soldiers fleeing to France, relic-trading and incest are just a few of the secrets which emerge.

Owen Archer, the intriguing Welsch archer-turned-sleuth, is back-in another riveting challenge to Ellis Peters! High summer, 1365-and York is glorious with pageantry for the Feast of Corpus Christi. But wool merchant Will Crounce, who acts in "The Last Judgement," meets his maker all too soon, his throat slit in the shadow of the great cathedral. When Crounce's severed hand is found in fellow-merchant Gilbert Ridley's tavern lodging, the Archbishop calls in Own Archer. To unravel a second murder, and the grisly warning of another severed hand, Owen will need his sharp mind, his bow and arrows, and even his wife Lucie's apothecary skills. For soon he will be drawn into a tangle of greed, treachery, and passion that runs from Ridley and the wool trade all the way to the royal court.

But there seems to be a common thread - the herbal remedies dispensed by Nicholas Wilton, Master Apothecary.Dispatched to York, in disguise, to unravel the mystery, Owen Archer, former Captain of Archers, apprentices himself to the Apothecary. But it is from Wilton's beautiful wife Lucie that he must learn the arcane secrets of the trade.

It is Edinburgh, 1297. Margaret Kerr, fiercely loyal to the deposed king John Balliol, has come in search of her absent husband Roger - a man in the service of Balliol's enemy Robert the Bruce. But terrifying raids and a brutal murder bring the wrath of the English to Margaret's door.

When two bodies are discovered in the grounds of York Minster shortly before the enthronement of the new archbishop, Owen Archer is summoned to investigate.December, 1374. With the great and the good about to descend on York for the enthronement of Alexander Neville as the new archbishop, the city authorities are in a state of high alert. When two bodies are discovered in the grounds of York Minster, and a flaxen-haired youth with the voice of an angel is found locked in the chapter house, Owen Archer, captain of the city bailiffs, is summoned to investigate.Tension deepens when an enigmatic figure from Owen's past arrives in the city. Why has he returned from France after all these years - and what is his connection with the bodies in the minster yard and the fair singer?Before Owen can make headway in the investigation, a third body is fished out of the river - and the captain finds himself with three mysterious deaths to solve before the all-powerful Neville family arrives in York.

Owen Archer, Thoresby's master of the guards, is determined to ensure that his lord's last days are as peaceful as possible, but his plans are thrown into disarray when Thoresby agrees to a visit from Joan, Princess of Wales, wife of the Black Prince and mother of the young heir to the throne of England.

When the wise woman Magda Digby is suspected of murder, Owen Archer sets out to prove her innocence in this intricately plotted medieval mystery. May, 1375. Owen Archer returns from London to find York in chaos. While the citizens are living in terror of the pestilence which is spreading throughout the land, a new physician has arrived, whipping up fear and suspicion against traditional healers and midwives. With the backing of the new archbishop, he is especially hostile towards Magda Digby, the wise woman who has helped and healed the people of York for many years. At the same time, Magda is uneasy about the arrival of two long-lost kinsfolk. Though they say they are seeking her help, she senses a hidden agenda.Magda's troubles deepen when she discovers a body in the river near her home - and finds herself under suspicion of murder. Days later, fire rips through a warehouse in the city. Amongst the charred debris lies the body of a man - not burned, but stabbed in the back. Could there be a connection to the corpse in the river? Determined to prove Magda's innocence, Owen sets out to find answers - but the more he uncovers, the deeper the mystery becomes . . .

The sixth medieval whodunnit to feature Owen Archer, one-eyed former soldier and occasional sleuth, opens as he accompanies a pilgrimage to Wales. His task is to recruit archers to send to France, but he must also investigate the threat of an uprising against the English, led by a Welshman.

1374. When a prominent citizen is found dead in the woods, rumours spread like wildfire that wolves are running loose throughout the city. Persuaded out of retirement to investigate, Owen Archer is convinced that a human killer is responsible. Teaming up with Geoffrey Chaucer, Owen's enquiries will draw him headlong into a deadly conspiracy.

As the crowds around the murdered man thicken, one-eyed spy Owen Archer is quickly brought to the scene by his adoptive son, Jasper. And as Owen and Jasper get closer to the truth, they find their own lives in danger...