Book description
AN ANCIENT EVIL: As the travellers gather at the start of a pilgrimage
to Canterbury, they agree to amuse themselves on their journey with
evening tales of mystery, terror and murder. So begins the Knight's
tale. It opens with the destruction of a sinister cult during the reign
of William the Conqueror, and then moves to Oxford some two hundred
years later where terrible murders are being committed. The Abbess of
the Convent of St Anne's, believes the murders are connected with the
legends of the cult and petitions the King for help... A TAPESTRY OF
MURDERS: As Chaucer's pilgrims continue towards Canterbury, they choose
the Man of Law to narrate the next tale of fear and sinister dealings.
In August 1358, the adulterous Dowager Queen Isabella, the 'She Wolf of
France', lies dying of the pestilence in the sombre fortress of Castle
Rising, where her 'loving' son has kept her incarcerated. But as in life
so in death Isabella causes intrigue, violence and murder. Nicholas
Chirke, an honest young lawyer, is brought in to investigate strange
events following her death - and quickly finds himself at his wits' end
trying to resolve the mysteries before a great scandal unfolds. A
TOURNAMENT OF MURDERS: While Chaucer's pilgrims settle for the night,
the Franklin narrates a mysterious, bloody tale... In 1356 the Black
Prince has won his resounding victory at Poitiers. As impoverished
knight Gilbert Savage lies dying in the wake of the fight he tells his
squire, Richard Greenele, that the story of his parents perishing during
the plague is untrue. Richard, if he wishes to uncover what really
happened, must travel to Colchester and seek out a sealed letter telling
the truth of his parentage, and a most macabre confession that will set
him on a mission for revenge from which there is no turning back...
Paul Doherty was born in Middlesbrough. He studied History at Liverpool
and Oxford Universities and obtained a doctorate for his thesis on
Edward II and Queen Isabella. He is now headmaster of a school in
north-east London and lives with his family in Essex.
