Catherine LeVendeur

This novel in Newman's series of medieval mysteries featuring Catherine LeVendeur takes place in the twelfth century amidst Europe's religious and political turbulence and intolerance. Catherine, wife of one-handed Edgar, daughter of a Jewish merchant, and mother of two small children, is a Christian convert. Agnes, her estranged sister, has returned to Paris with the news that she is to marry a German lord. She wants no part of her Jewish family, except the sizable dowry her father can provide. After Agnes departs for Germany, her family receives terrible news: Agnes' husband has been murdered by poison and Agnes herself is the prime suspect. Catherine, putting their differences aside, goes undercover in the dangerous anti-Semitic climate of Germany to save her sister's life and possibly lose her own in the effort.

After an absence of a year, Catherine LeVendeur and her husband Edgar are glad to return to Paris. When they enter the house, however, they are shocked by the discovery of the dead body of a Knight Templar. Although innocent, Catherine fears that she or her family will be incriminated. Her father Hubert has recently announced his Jewish roots and twelfth-century Europe is not a safe place for Jews. She particularly fears the powerful knight, Jehan of Blois. Catherine must penetrate the secrets of the Knights Templar in order to vindicate her family. Catherine and Edgar's loving relationship is warmly described against the mesmerizing sights and sounds of medieval Paris in this engrossing tale of mystery.