Abbess of Meaux

In November 1382, the month of the dead, Abbess Hildegard rides out for York from the Abbey of Meaux. This is no ordinary journey-it is a time of rival popes, a boy king, and a shaky peace in the savage aftermath of Wat Tyler's murder-and Hildegard has embarked on a perilous mission to try to secure the future of her priory. Traveling alone, she discovers danger, encountering first a gibbet with five bloodied corpses and then the body of a youth, brutally butchered. Who was the boy, how was he connected to the men hanging from the gibbet, and what do these gruesome deaths mean? Hildegard is determined to uncover the truth, no matter how terrible it may be. When even her childhood home, Castle Hutton, turns out not to be a safe haven from murder, Hildegard realizes she will have to summon all of her courage and wisdom to counter the dark forces that threaten her friends and family as well as her country.

"Hildegard is a welcome addition to the ever-expanding ranks of religious sleuths who populate the pages of medieval mysteries." - Booklist In the midst of a long, bleak winter in the year 1383, flooding brought famine, famine brought disease, and The Black Death visited town after town. Into this watery world, against a background of plague and the turmoil of the Hundred Years' War, a brave and brilliant nun, Abbess Hildegard, embarks on a quest for a precious relic, the Cross of Constantine. Strong-willed and independent, she will need remarkable skills to survive. For with the English Crown at stake, there are many who want her mission to fail-and one, above all, who plans a deadly revenge.

"Highly recommended for fans of medieval mysteries." - Library Journal York, 1385. Just as the Mystery Plays are about to unfold, a young woman witnesses a terrible crime and turns to Abbess Hildegard of Meaux for protection. In The Law of Angels, Cassandra Clark once again shows us the human side of history, giving readers new reason to follow Publishers Weekly's rallying cry: "Medievalists rejoice!"

All the danger and intrigue of 14th-century England spring to life in this "compelling" (Publishers Weekly) series about the brave, incorruptible Abbess of Meaux. Abbess Hildegard may consider herself "just a nun with no useful skills or connections," yet her loyalty and intelligence have brought her to the attention of King Richard II himself-not the safest place to be, when the king has enemies on all sides. As Hildegard wrestles with her role as a spy in the parliament that is hastily gathering at Westminster, Cassandra Clark's A Parliament of Spies shows us the human side of history, giving readers new reason to follow Publishers Weekly's rallying cry: "Medievalists rejoice!"

Late December, 1389. Ordered to undertake a gruelling three-day journey to bleak Whitby Abbey in the far north of England in a bid to purchase the Abbey's priceless Holy Relic – a lock of St Hild's hair, said to be 700 years old – Hildegard of Meaux and her three companion monks arrive to find the Abbey a decidedly unwelcoming place, a place of strange customs and practices very different to their modest lifestyle at Meaux. Nor, as Hildegard discovers, is she the only visitor intent on acquiring the Relic. Before the bidding war can begin, a body is discovered in the monastery's apple store shed, and once again Hildegard is plunged into a baffling murder investigation where nothing is as it first appears. Something is rotten in the heart of Whitby Abbey – and it's up to Hildegard to discover the truth.

February 1390. The Church seethes with rebellion. Newly elected Pope Boniface faces a challenger: the anti-pope Clement, who sows discord from his power base in France. The quarrel threatens the very survival of the Cistercian Order. So, when suspicions grow that distant Beaulieu Abbey may turn traitor, Hildegard's prioress summons her with a mission she can't refuse: travel to the isolated royal abbey and spy out their true allegiance. The public reason for Hildegard's trip is more prosaic. A young Cornish heiress, promised in marriage to the son of local aristocrat Sir William, needs escorting to her new home. It's not often Hildegard joins a betrothal party, and she's looking forward to meeting the girl. But, little does Hildegard know, death and danger wait at Beaulieu, and even the protection of her travelling companions, the monks militant Brother Gregory and Brother Egbert, may not be enough to keep her safe from harm ... This action-packed, page-turning medieval mystery is a great choice for fans of holy sleuths like Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma and Paul Doherty's Brother Athelstan.

A storm is coming . . . Can nun sleuth Hildegard solve the murder of a lay sister before the rising flood waters trap her with a cunning killer? Autumn, 1394. All is not well at Swyne Priory. Dissension has arisen amongst the nuns. The new novices whisper in corners, spreading malicious rumours and sharing dark secrets. The Prioress gives Hildegard an order: search out the cause of this unrest, and put a stop to it. But before Hildegard can investigate, she's forced to deal with a new problem: the arrival of a mysterious stranger in the middle of the night, claiming his life is in danger. Hildegard isn't sure whether to believe him, but when a body is discovered near the priory, she's soon plunged into a dark and dangerous puzzle where nothing is as it seems. All she knows for certain is that a storm is coming, threatening to cut the priory off from the outside world and trap them with a killer . . . Medieval mystery at its finest - and a great pick for readers who love sleuthing monks and nuns like Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma, Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael and Cora Harrison's Reverend Mother.