A Sir Geoffrey Mappestone Mystery
4 primary works • 6 total works
Book 1
This first title in the Geoffrey Mappestone series was originally published in the USA in 1998, but has never been available in the UK.
Jerusalem, 1100. On returning to the city following an exhausting desert patrol, Crusader knight Sir Geoffrey Mappestone hears screams coming from the house of a Greek baker and discovers that one of his closest friends, a fellow knight, has been murdered in the woman's bedchamber. But this is not the first suspicious death in the city: other knights and priests have also been killed, all with the same type of curved dagger with a jewelled hilt.
Ordered to investigate the deaths by his liege lord, Prince Tancred, it is not long before Sir Geoffrey finds himself drawn into dire straits involving some of the most dangerous men in the city--and learns that his closest friends could also be his deadliest enemies.
Book 1
Murder in the Holy City: An 11th Century Mystery Set During the Crusades
by Simon Beaufort
Book 3
A Sir Geoffrey Mappestone mystery
Southampton 1070. Sir Geoffrey Mappestone and his loyal friend Roger seek passage on one of the many ships due to sail to Normandy and then on to the Holy Land. The two knights have been away from the Crusade too long, and are itching to get back to the action. But peculiar things have been happening in the harbour town, and it soon becomes evident that someone is trying to keep Geoffrey and Roger from boarding one of the ships.
When Geoffrey's dim-witted servant is killed by a deadly arrow that was clearly meant for the knight himself, Sir Geoffrey's fury is such that he would do anything to find the murderer. But then Ranulf Flambard - who is not only the Bishop of Durham and an escapee from the Tower of London, but also happens to be Roger's father - arrives in Southampton with an errand for his son to perform. Much against Geoffrey's better judgement, the pair set off for the northern town of Durham, where a magnificent cathedral is being built at Flambard's behest.
As yet more arrows fly Geoffrey's way, the knight begins to realize that none of these events are random, and it is down to him to discover the connection between the two towns, Bishop Flambard and a handful of red-stained arrows.
Book 8
The new 'Sir Geoffrey Mappestone' mystery
When the former crusader knight Geoffrey Mappestone is ordered by King Henry to deliver a series of mysterious letters to the restless western reaches of Wales, he agrees only reluctantly. His conviction that the simple mission hides something more sinister is strengthened when the letters' scribe is murdered before the journey begins.
Then one of Geoffrey's travelling companions is killed, and he knows he must uncover the secret behind the letters before more victims are claimed . . .
The second book in the critically acclaimed medieval mystery series featuring Sir Geoffrey Mappestone
In the year 1101, Sir Geoffrey Mappestone returns to his home at Goodrich Castle on the Welsh border. He is travelling in the company of a knight who claims to be carrying an urgent message for King Henry I. When the knight is killed during an ambush, Geoffrey feels obliged to deliver the message to the King himself, but quickly regrets his decision when the King orders him to spy on his own family in order to ferret out a dangerous traitor.
Geoffrey returns home to find his father gravely ill and his older brothers and sister each determined to inherit the Mappestone estate. Geoffrey's father claims he is being poisoned by one of his own children, a claim no one takes seriously until he is found murdered with his own knife in the dead of night.
Geoffrey's investigation of the murder, however, takes him far beyond a family quarrel. Accusations are flying, and Geoffrey must prove his own innocence in the face of greed and fear. The villainous Earl of Shrewsbury is clearly implicated, and as Geoffrey delves deeper, he discovers a plot that reaches far beyond the realm of Goodrich Castle to that of the entire kingdom: the assassination of the King.
