Troubled Bones (Crispin Guest Medieval Noir Series #4)

by Jeri Westerson

Overview

Since losing his knighthood, Crispin Guest has crafted a reputation throughout London. From the shadowy corners of the city to the exclusive halls of the royal court he is known as the Tracker, an investigator for hire who can find anyone or anything. But when the Archbishop of Canterbury hires him to expose the culprit threatening the sacred relics of a holy martyr, Guest finds himself a stranger in an unfamiliar land.

Within a city of pilgrims and priests, he unexpectedly encounters his former friend Geoffrey Chaucer, poet, rabble-rouser and liege to Crispin’s former master. Chaucer and his group of fellow pilgrims all have tales to tell...and secrets to hide. After a murder befalls the cathedral, Guest, together with his faithful servant Jack, has been tasked with uncovering the dark truth. Among hallowed tombs of soldiers and saints, in a world of ancient secrets and undying vendettas, Guest must identify the murderous heretic among holy men if he has any hope of returning home.

The riveting fourth book in the Crispin Guest series re-imagines the world of The Canterbury Tales in an engaging, suspenseful mystery. Troubled Bones was nominated for the Macavity, the Agatha, Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice, and the Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery awards.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625674203
Publisher:	JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
Publication date:	02/12/2019
Series:	Crispin Guest Medieval Noir Series , #4
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jeri Westerson is the author of the Crispin Guest Medieval Mysteriy and the Booke of the Hidden series. Her books were finalists for several major mystery awards, including the Agatha, the Shamus, and the Macavity. She lives in Menifee, California.

Editorial Reviews

A murderous spin on The Canterbury Tales.

Disgraced knight Crispin Guest has gained such a reputation as a tracker of criminals (The Demon's Parchment, 2010, etc.) that the Archbishop of Canterbury calls on him to investigate a threat against the bones of Saint Thomas Becket. The archbishop suspects a plot by the Lollards, whose attack on papal authority and church doctrines has the veiled approval of some of the highest in the land, including Guest's former lord, the Duke of Lancaster. Guest and his servant Jack are staying at an inn that also houses Geoffrey Chaucer, a friend of Guest from the days when Guest was still a favorite of Lancaster, and many of the characters who are due to be immortalized in his Canterbury Tales. When the prioress is murdered and Becket's bones go missing, Guest has his work cut out for him. A second murder only confuses his task. The archbishop wants the murders solved, the bones returned, and the Lollards rooted out. When Chaucer's dagger is used as a murder weapon, Guest has to look deep into the past and the death of Becket in order to save his old friend from the hangman's rope.

Westerson's latest medieval noir is a very readable combination of historical fact and mystery even though it telegraphs the killer's identity early on.

Kirkus Reviews