Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53334 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

About the Author
BERNARD KNIGHT, a senior Home Office pathologist, is the author of nine books in the CROWNER JOHN series. MICHAEL JECKS is the author of the TEMPLAR series, which describes life among the Devon peasants under King Edward II. Former police officer SUSANNA GREGORY's novels feature MATTHEW BARTHOLOMEW, a Cambridge physician in the period immediately after the Black Death. Cornwall-based IAN MORSON is the author of the FALCONER series, and PHILIP GOODEN writes Shakespearean murder mysteries.

Customer Reviews

A feast with a theme
This book, or almost anthology, has five 'acts' or novelettes together with a prologue and an epilogue on a single theme: the 'tainted' or cursed relic.

Each 'act' is by one of a number of well known medieval murder mystery authors. They have used it to each create a single stand-alone murder mystery, using their well known individual characters from their own series (such as Crowner John or Matthew Bartholomew) but incorporates the tainted relic of the title at a different period. Each story therefore also carries forward the history of this relic in a continuous time line.

I very much enjoyed most of the stories though the Elizabethan least of all but, there again, that is not my favourite historical period. A very good read.

The Tainted Relic
I am a great fan of this genre and was not disappointed. My favourite author is Susanna Gregory and her writing in this particular novel did not let me down. It also gave me an opportunity to decide whether to give other writers a look. The novel is split into acts, with each author writing a separate act. The story flowed and although there were clearly different styles involved, it did not detract from the desire to continue reading.

Enjoyable Read
A group of authors contribute to a tale that takes place over a period of time. It is well done. But, I am prejudiced in that I think that Bernard Knight and Micheal Jecks are the best of the group of authors. I don't say that the others are bad, no. But, Knight and Jecks just have that something extra. As of this writing, I have all in this series.