Dimensions
112 x 179 x 10mm
The Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan.
In the autumn of 1379, the power of the crown is invested in John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and the kingdom is seething with discontent. The French are attacking the southern ports and there is economic hardship in the countryside where the peasants are planning a revolt organised by the mysterious leader of the Great Community of the Realm, who proclaims himself as "Ira Dei", the anger of God.
Gaunt is involved in winning over the great merchant princes of the capital when his plans are plunged into chaos by a series of bloody and mysterious murders. In desperation, Gaunt turns to Sir John Cranston, the portly Coroner of the City, to bring the assassin to book and to recover a king's ransom in gold which has mysteriously disappeared.
Cranston naturally calls on his ally the Dominican monk, Brother Athelstan. London is a hotbed of intrigue and they find it difficult to distinguish between friend and foe. They face threats and attack from the powerful as well as from the seedy underworld of medieval London, not to mention a chilling exorcism, as they try to bring order to their own lives and a subtle murderer to justice.
