Bettie's Books

So this has been billed as five short stories but to me it has been one interesting story outlining the history of one grey splinter down the ages and very enjoyable it was too. Especially that snortable fifth segment.Wonderful fun.In July 1100 Susanna Gregory, writing as Simon Beaufort, begins the story when Geoffrey Mappestone is first to handle the relic. Decades later, and Bernard Knight takes up the story when the relic turns up in the possession of a dealer robbed and murdered near Exeter and Crowner John learns of its dark history.In Oxford in 1269 a decapitated monk leads to Ian Morson's William Falconer uncovering a grisly connection to the relic. Sir Baldwin Furnshill suspects its involvement in five violent deaths in Exeter, and thirty years later Susanna Gregory's Matthew Bartholomew finds that the relic is responsible for deaths during debates about the Holy Blood relics.Finally Philip Gooden's Nick Revill finds that it has been dispatched to London, where it falls into the hands of an unscrupulous book dealer.It was July, 1100. Jerusalem lies ransacked. Amidst the chaos, an English knight is entrusted with a valuable religious relic: a fragment of the True Cross, allegedly stained with the blood of Christ. The relic is said to be cursed: anyone who touches it will meet an untimely and gruesome end. Several decades later, the Cross turns up in the possession of a dealer, robbed and murdered en route to Glastonbury. Investigating the death, Bernard Knight's protagonist, Crowner John learns of its dark history. In Oxford in 1269, the discovery of a decapitated monk leads Ian Morson's academic sleuth William Falconer to uncover a link to the relic. In 1323, in Exeter, Michael Jecks' Sir Baldwin has reason to suspect its involvement in at least five violent deaths. Thirty years later, several suspicious deaths occur in Cambridge - and, once again, the tainted relic has a crucial part to play. Finally, it's despatched to London, where Philip Gooden's Nick Revill will determine its ultimate fate.