Canterbury Tales Mysteries Books
As the travellers gather in the Tabard Inn at the start of a pilgrimage to pray before the blessed bones of St Thomas à Becket in Canterbury, they agree eagerly to mine host Harry''s suggestion of amusing themselves on each day of their journey with one tale and each evening with another - but the latter to be of mystery, terror and murder. The Knight begins that evening: his tale opens with the destruction of a sinister cult at its stronghold in the wilds of Oxfordshire by Sir Hugo Mortimer during the reign of William the Conqueror, and then moves to Oxford some two hundred years later where strange crimes and terrible murders are being committed. The authorities seem powerless but Lady Constance, Abbess of the Convent of St Anne''s, believes the murders are connected with the legends of the cult and she petitions the King for help. As the murders continue unabated, special commissioner Sir Godfrey Evesden and royal clerk Alexander McBain uncover clues that lead to a macabre world sect, which worships the dark lord. But they can find no solution to a series of increasingly baffling questions and matters are not helped by the growing rift between Sir Godfrey and McBain for the hand and favour of the fair Lady Emily.
Chaucer''s pilgrims, quarrelling amongst themselves, are now in open countryside enjoying the fresh spring weather as they progress slowly towards Canterbury. A motley collection of travellers, they each have their dark secrets, hidden passions and complex lives. As they shelter in a tavern from a sudden April shower they choose the Man of Law to narrate the next tale of fear and sinister dealings. In August 1358, the Dowager Queen Isabella, mother of King Edward III, the ''She Wolf of France'', who betrayed and destroyed her husband because of her adulterous infatuation for Roger Mortimer, lies dying of the pestilence in the sombre fortress of Castle Rising, where her ''loving'' son has kept her incarcerated. According the Man of Law, Isabella dies and her body is taken along the Mile End Road and laid to rest in Greyfriars next to the mangled remains of her lover, who has paid dearly for his presumption in loving a queen. Nevertheless, as in life so in death Isabella causes intrigue, violence and murder. Nicholas Chirke, an honest young lawyer, is brought in to investigate the strange events following her death - and quickly finds himself at his wits'' end trying to resolve the mysteries before a great scandal unfolds.
Chaucer's pilgrims are sheltering in a friary as they slowly wind their way towards Canterbury. As they settle for the night, away from the darkness outside and the shadowy figures that haunt the lanes and byways of medieval England, the Franklin narrates a mysterious, bloody tale -- a true story, he suggests, which not only affects his own life, but the lives of some of his fellow pilgrims...In 1356 the Black Prince has won his resounding victory at Poitiers. However, in that bloody fight, the impoverished knight Gilbert Savage received his death wound. As Gilbert lies dying in a ditch he tells his squire, Richard Greenele, that the story of his parents perishing during the plague is untrue. Richard, if he wishes to uncover what really happened, must travel to Colchester and seek out the lawyer Hugo Coticol who holds a sealed letter telling the truth of Richard's parentage and the dreadful secrets surrounding his father's disgraceful death. This document contains a most macabre confession and Richard finds himself a small step closer to discovering the truth, and compelled to avenge his father's name.
As Chaucer's pilgrims shelter in the ruins of a church, the poor Priest narrates his mysterious tale. Young Philip Trumpington, the new Scawsby parish priest, finds that the old church harbours shocking secrets. Years earlier, some Templars were massacred on the marshes, their attackers led by Romenal, a former Scawsby vicar. Philip discovers the old church is haunted by 'The Watchers' and the villagers are scarred by a terrible curse. An ancient evil must be resolved and reparation made. But the price will be great...
Stumbling upon an execution, Chaucer's pilgrims witness a hanging that leaves the carpenter in a dead faint. That evening, he narrates the tale of a Gloucester hangman whose involvement in the secretive punishment of three witches unleashes a vicious spate of revenge killings.
As the sun sets, Chaucer's pilgrims find themselves lost in a Kent forest rumoured to be haunted. Huddled around the fire, trying to ignore the cries of screech owls and other, more frightening sounds of the night, the Clerk of Oxford agrees to tell a ghostly tale of love and death that will chill the blood.
A ‘Canterbury Tales’ medieval mystery - As Chaucer’s pilgrims shelter for the night, it’s the physician’s turn to enthral his fellow travellers with a terrifying tale. When Brother Anselm and his novice Stephen are summoned to the Church of St Michael’s, Candlewick, to perform an exorcism, the demons that plague the church appear to have been summoned by an infamous sorcerer known as the Midnight Man. But what has he unwittingly unleashed – and why? Is there any link to the disappearance of young women in the area? Before Anselm can get to the truth, he must first uncover the identity of the mysterious Midnight Man.