Owen Archer

In the year of our Lord 1363, two suspicious deaths in the infirmary of St. Mary's Abbey catch the attention of the powerful John Thoresby, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of York. One victim is a pilgrim, while the second is Thoresby's ne'er-do-well ward, both apparently poisoned by a physic supplied by Master Apothecary Nicholas Wilton. In the wake of these deaths, the archbishop dispatches one-eyed spy Owen Archer to York to find the murderer. Under the guise of a disillusioned soldier keen to make a fresh start, Owen insinuates himself into Wilton's apothecary as an apprentice. But he finds Wilton bedridden, with the shop being run by his lovely, enigmatic young wife, Lucie. As Owen unravels a tangled history of scandal and tragedy, he discovers at its center a desperate, forbidden love twisted over time into obsession. And the woman he has come to love is his prime suspect.

Summer in the year of our Lord 1365. On the night after the Corpus Christi procession, a man is brutally murdered on the steps of York Minster. The next morning his severed hand is found in a room at the York Tavern-a room hastily vacated by a fellow guild member who had quarreled with the victim. Archbishop Thoresby calls on Owen Archer to investigate. As Owen tracks the fleeing merchant, he uncovers a conspiracy involving a powerful company of traders, but his only witness is a young boy who has gone into hiding, and his only suspect is a mysterious cloaked woman. When Owen discovers a link between the traders and a powerful coterie in the royal court, he brings his apothecary wife Lucie into the race to find the boy before he is silenced forever by the murderers.

Based on an enigmatic entry in the records of Clementhorpe Nunnery, this authentic, gripping mystery conjures a fourteenth century ripe with forbidden passions and political intrigue. When young nun Joanna Calverley dies of a fever in the town of Beverley in the summer of 1365, she is buried quickly for fear of the plague. But a year later, Archbishop Thoresby learns of a woman who has arrived in York claiming to be the resurrected nun, talking of relic-trading and miracles. And death seems to ride in her wake. The archbishop sends Owen Archer to retrace the woman's journey, an investigation that leads him across the north from Leeds to Beverley to Scarborough. Along the way he encounters Geoffrey Chaucer, a spy for the king of England, who believes there is a connection between the nun's troubles, renegade mercenaries, and the powerful Percy family. Back in York, however, Owen's wife Lucie, pregnant with their first child, has won the confidence of the mysterious nun and realizes that there are secrets hidden in the woman's seemingly mad ramblings . . .

Friend or foe? The character of Owen's old friend is called into question when he mysteriously vanishes from the king's mission after a page is murdered. York, 1367. Owen Archer and his old comrade, Ned Townley, are each leading companies of the king's men north of York to Fountains and Rievaulx abbeys respectively, on a mission to win the support of the powerful abbots for William of Wykeham becoming the Bishop of Winchester. A crime of passion? But trouble stalks Ned Townley-Sir William of Wyndesore's men at Windsor suspect he killed a page in a jealous rage over his betrothed. Is the rumor true? Some secrets must be protected at any cost. When Ned and a friar in his party go missing, Owen is drawn into the intrigue surrounding his friend. As further disturbing events occur, Owen uncovers a dangerous, scandalous secret that stretches to the highest level of the court.

Is nowhere safe in York? As the plague wreaks havoc on the city, Owen Archer must solve a puzzle involving scandal, theft, and murder sweeping through a local hospital. York, 1369. As pestilence rages through the city of York, strange things are afoot at St. Leonard's Hospital. Corrodians are dying in mysterious circumstances and riches belonging to the hospital have been stolen. An evil that knows no bounds. When a fire claims the life of a corrodian and badly injures another, it's clear it was no accident-both men were violently attacked. With a suspicious death and a lay sister suspected of being behind the thefts, Sir Richard de Ravenser, Master of St. Leonard's, appeals to his uncle, the Archbishop of York, for Owen Archer's help. A riddle within a riddle . . . Can Owen restore harmony to the hospital? To solve the riddle of St. Leonard's, Owen must first solve a puzzle linked to one of the victims . . .

An act of kindness or unforgivable treason? Owen Archer investigates a murder in Wales with links to a controversial offer of refuge. Wales, 1369. Owen Archer is travelling to Wales on a mission for the Duke of Lancaster, recruiting archers in anticipation of King Charles of France's invasion of England. Joining him are Brother Michaelo, Geoffrey Chaucer and his father-in-law, Sir Robert D'Arby, who is on pilgrimage to the shrine of St David. A JOURNEY DEEP IN THE FOREST ENDS WITH A TERRIBLE DISCOVERY. When the body of John de Reine, one of the Duke of Lancaster's men, is found at the gate of St David's, the bishop asks Owen to return the corpse to John's father, Sir John Lascelles. TREACHERY. PASSION. MURDER. Could John's death be linked to his father's decision to grant sanctuary to a man accused of harboring a French spy and the wounding of a mysterious pilgrim? As Owen investigates, he uncovers betrayal, treason, acts of passion and dark secrets . . .

Does absence always make the heart grow fonder? An unexpected death and a chilling murder extend Owen Archer's stay in Wales, with dramatic consequences for both himself and his wife, Lucie. Wales, 1370. Owen has completed his latest mission for the Duke of Lancaster, but his plan to return home is thrown into peril when the young stonemason carving the tomb of Owen's late father-in-law, English knight Sir Robert D'Arcy, is discovered hanged. A TREASONOUS ACT. The Archdeacon of St. David's wants Owen to find out whether Cynog was executed due to his support for the would-be Welsh redeemer, Owain Lawgoch's, rebellion against English rule. Prolonging his stay in Wales means that Owen will be unable to deliver the news of Sir Robert's death to Lucie in person, but can he really leave her father's tomb unfinished? LOYALTIES QUESTIONED . . . As Owen investigates Cynog's links to Lawgoch, he finds himself questioning his own purpose and is tempted by an unthinkable proposal. While in Owen's absence, Lucie also faces a difficult dilemma . . .