What We're Reading: Edward

Troubled Bones: a medieval noir

by Jen Westerson

Crispin Guest found himself between his Lord and his King. For this he was stripped of his knighthood and banished from the English Court. Crispin survives by being "The Tracker", the finder of lost items. In Troubled Bones, the fourth in the series, Crispin is summoned by the Archbishop of Canterbury to protect the bones of St. Thomas Becket. While guarding the relics, Crispin hears a blood curdling scream. In another part of the cathedral, he finds a slain Prioress and a befuddled nun. When he returns to the relics, he is knocked unconscious. Crispin awakens to find all but one of the bones missing. While he is investigating the theft and the murder, a monk is killed. The two murder victims were related to the murderers of St. Thomas. Is there a curse on the families of the murderers? While in Canterbury, Crispin runs into his old friend, Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer is a pilgrim travelling with the group that included the dead Prioress. Is Chaucer part of the plot to steal the relics? Are the murders and the theft part of the same plot? Crispin must solve both mysteries before anyone else is killed!