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February, 1381. London lies frozen in the grip of one of the bitterest winters on record. The ever-rising taxes demanded by the Regent, John of Gaunt, are causing increasing resentment among the city's poor. When the seething unrest boils over into a bloody massacre at a splendid Southwark tavern, The Candle Flame, in which nine people, including Gaunt's tax collectors, their military escort and the prostitutes entertaining them, are brutally murdered, the furious Regent orders Brother Athelstan to get to the bottom of the matter.
For not only has Gaunt's treasure trove been stolen, he has reason to believe a French spy is active along the Thames, carefully recording for his masters in the Louvre the state of English war cogs. And a professional assassin, Beowulf, who has sworn vengeance against Gaunt and his minions, also stalks the shadows. Once again, Athelstan must enter the murky world of murder, where the darkness constantly shifts and no one is who or what they seem.
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Release date
July 1, 2014 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781780105253
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781780105253
- File size: 707 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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May 5, 2014
Brother Athelstan, secretary and clerk to Sir John Cranston, London’s Lord High Coroner, has a complicated multiple murder case to unravel in Doherty’s intricate 13th whodunit set in 14th-century England (after 2013’s The Straw Men). The killer’s bloody night of work has left nine dead, including Edmund Marsen, a tax collector, whose body was found in a locked room in a Southwark tavern called the Candle-Flame. Many people hated Marsen, on account of his vigorous and cruel pursuit of money for his master, John of Gaunt, self-styled regent to the young king, Richard II. Suspicion focuses on a group known as the Upright Men, who oppose Gaunt. Further bloodshed presents Athelstan with a second impossible murder to solve. Doherty devises logical explanations for the crimes—no mean feat, given how many he’s devised in his several historical series. Agent: David Headley, David Headley Literary Agency (U.K.).
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