A Geoffrey Mappestone Mystery Series

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.

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.

A Sir Geoffrey Mappestone mystery. March 1102 March 1102, and Robert de Belleme, the Black Earl of Shrewsbury, is summoned to appear before King Henry's Easter Court, to answer for siding with the King's older brother, the Duke of Normandy, in an attempt to steal the King's throne. Meanwhile, in the crowded and dangerous streets of Southwark, south of the river Thames, Crusader Knights Sir Geoffrey Mappestone and the hearty Sir Roger of Durham witness a man murdered by hanging from the window of the Crusader's Arms Inn. But this is not just any man, he is the illegitimate nephew of Robert de Belleme, and had apparently been holding a meeting with two mysterious men. In fact, it turns out the inn has been used for many meetings of the earl's spies, and there are plans afoot to obtain a terrible weapon to use against the King, one that the Crusader Knights remember with a terrible fear from the Siege of Jerusalem Greek Fire. Solving the murder is only the first step in uncovering the plot against the King.

A Sir Geoffrey Mappestone mystery Westminster, 1102. Once again about to depart for the Holy Land, Sir Geoffrey is furious to be summoned back by the King, trusting neither his methods of persuasion nor his motives. When he arrives at Court he finds two argumentative groups of Saxon moneyers, one accusing the other of devaluing the King's currency. There may be more to it than mere greed, however, and, unappealing though the prospect is, Geoffrey has no choice but to accept the King's commission to investigate whether this is part of a treasonous plot - especially as it is his only hope of saving his sister from the consequences of her own involvement.