Owen Archer Mystery S.
4 primary works • 5 total works
Book 2
Book 4
Medieval York is brought to life by Candace Robb in this suspense laden and spellbinding murder mystery. If you like Ellis Peters, S J Parris, Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell, you will love this!
'A superb medieval mystery, thoroughly grounded in historical fact' -- Booklist
'A vivid portrait of 14th-century England which gives us a hero who is cunning and capable, whether navigating the Court of the open moors' -- Time Out
'A complex and ambiguous tale... Robb continues to adeptly blend politics with period detail and three-dimensional characterisation' -- Publishers Weekly
'An exceptional historical medieval murder mystery' -- ***** Reader review
'A good yarn, well crafted and suitably complex' -- ***** Reader review
'Candace Robb thorough research shows in this really gripping tale. I think Owen Archer is the best thing since sliced bread. Gorgeous!!!' -- ***** Reader review
'The complexity of the characters in this book has me hooked. I am so invested in Owen's process. I love the setting, the historic aspect, the religious aspect...it's great. I'm definitely invested.' -- ***** Reader review
****************************************************************************
WHO CAN YOU REALLY TRUST?
March 1367: King Edward is impatient. He wants William of Wykeham confirmed as Bishop of Winchester, but Pope Urban V is stalling, deterred by the man's wealth and political ambition.
Thus Owen Archer finds himself heading a deputation from York to Fountains Abbey, to win support for Wykeham from the powerful Cistercian abbots. Ignoring advice, he places his old comrade Ned Townley in charge of the fellow company to Rievaulx, hoping to dispel rumours of Ned's involvement in a mysterious death.
But just days out of York trouble erupts: a friar and Ned both vanish, following news of murder at Windsor. Owen asks John Thoresby, at Court in his role as Lord Chancellor, for help, little knowing it will involve him with the King's mistress, Alice Perrers, ever a dangerous enemy...
Can Archer extricate himself from a web of deceit and mystery in order to reveal the truth?
Book 5
Anno Domini 1369. The much loved Queen Philippa lies dying at Windsor, and the plague has returned to the city of York. In an atmosphere of fear and superstition, rumours spread that a spate of deaths at St Leonard's Hospital in York is no accident. The hospital is in debt and has suffered thefts: Sir Richard de Ravenser, Master of the Hospital, returns from Winchester painfully aware that scandal could ruin his own career. Anxious to avert a crisis, he requests the services of Owen Archer, spy for the Archbishop.
With plague rife and the city's inhabitants besieging his wife, the Apothecary, for new cures, Owen Archer is unwilling to become involved. There is too little to link the victims to each other: the riddle seems unsolvable. But careful enquiries reveal a further riddle, connected to one of the victims. Is this where the truth lies?
Book 6
Through the wet spring of 1369 a pilgrimage wends its way to the sacred city of St David's. Owen Archer, ex-soldier and sometime spy, accompanies the party to recruit archers for the Duke of Lancaster, who prepares to fight the French. But he and Geoffrey Chaucer have another, covert, mission: to ascertain whether the Duke's steward at Cydweli is betraying him to Welsh rebels.
Trouble precedes them: a body in the Duke's livery is left at the city gates. And when Owen rides on to Cydweli he finds the household of the steward and his beautiful young wife rocked by the theft of money from the exchequer and riven by tension, culminating in another violent attack. He must work fast to investigate charges of treachery, infidelity and murder if he is to prevent further deaths.
Political skullduggery, passion and ambition clash in this intriguing, evocative and compelling novel which vividly conjures up the medieval world.
When a young nun dies of a fever in the town of Beverley in the summer of 1365, she is buried quickly for fear of the plague. But one year later a woman appears, talking of relic-trading and miracles. She claims to be the dead nun resurrected. Murder follows swiftly in her wake, and the worried Archbishop of York asks Owen Archer to investigate.
Travelling to Leeds and Scarborough to unearth clues, Owen finds only a trail of corpses, until a meeting with Geoffrey Chaucer, spy for King Edward, links the nun with mercenary soldiers and the powerful Percy family. Meanwhile, in York, the apothecary Lucie Wilton has won the mysterious woman's confidence. But the troubled secrets which start to emerge will endanger them all...