Элис Клер – лучшие книги

Англия XII века. Времена короля Ричарда Львиное Сердце. Аббатство Хокенли становится местом кровавого преступления - зверски убита молодая монахиня. К расследованию убийства приступают доблестный рыцарь сэр Жосс Аквинский и мудрая аббатиса Элевайз. Но прежде чем применять следственные методы, их надо ещё изобрести, потому что Шерлок Холмс родится только через семьсот лет... "Лунный лик Фортуны" - первая книга серии из девяти средневековых детективов, написанных Элис Клер.

Англия, 1190 год. Времена короля Ричарда Львиное Сердце. Аббатство Хокенли, расположенное близ городка Тонбридж на окраине великого Уилденского леса... Ещё не улеглись слухи об убийствах, совершённых в окрестностях аббатства ("Лунный лик Фортуны"), как здесь снова совершаются злодеяния. На этот раз всё начинается с гибели браконьера. Кто виноват в его смерти — местные жители или таинственный Лесной народ? К расследованию вновь приступают доблестный рыцарь сэр Жосс Аквинский и мудрая аббатиса Элевайз. "Пепел стихий" — вторая книга серии из девяти средневековых детективов, написанных Элис Клер.

Sir Josse d’Aquin is summoned to assist the beleaguered King John in the 17th – and final – Hawkenlye mystery.

September, 1216. A foreign army has invaded England. The country is divided. Some support the rebel barons and Prince Louis of France; others remain loyal to the king. His rule under threat, King John summons Sir Josse d’Acquin to support him. But can Sir Josse save the king from himself?

Meanwhile, Josse’s daughter Meggie is summoned to Hawkenlye Abbey to attend a sick patient in a very distressed state. The elderly woman is warning of terrible danger unless she can complete her mission. What she learns from her patient will set Meggie on a perilous journey to retrieve a cursed treasure. But will she be in time to prevent a tragedy?

February, 1212.

Sir Josse d'Acquin and Helewise are summoned to Southfire Hall, where Josse's elderly uncle, Hugh, lies dying, surrounded by his children. But the pair soon discovers that Hugh's ill health is not the only cause of distress in the house: for Hugh's son and heir, Herbert, has taken an unpleasant new wife, the widowed Lady Cyrille.

Josse and Helewise are distracted by the discovery of an injured young man on the road outside on the evening of their arrival, but the longer they remain in the house, the more they feel that something is very wrong. What happened to Josse's cousin Aeleis, who no one speaks of? Where is Lady Cyrille's small son? And why do they both feel as if the house itself is alive - and threatened by approaching evil?

All Saint’s Eve, 1211. An overweight but wealthy nobleman, desperate for an heir, dies at the celebration feast he’s thrown in his own hall. A natural death . . . or at the hands of his reluctant new wife?

Sabin de Gifford, an apothecary and healer of note, is called to examine the body, and concludes that he died of a spasm to the heart. But she is troubled, all the same, and beset by suspicions. Did the man really die of a heart attack? Or was something more sinister to blame?

There is only one person Sabin can turn to for help: fellow healer Meggie, daughter of Sir Josse d’Acquin. But what she requires of her is dangerous indeed.

In the latest Hawkenlye mystery, desperate men commit terrible crimes – but vengeance is on its way . . . Winter, 1211. Former abbess Helewise moves back to her cell near Hawkenlye Abbey to help the needy, putting a strain on her relationship with Sir Josse D’Acquin, who is called to examine the bodies of three men, one of whom bears a complicated symbol carved into his chest: a symbol that signifies vengeance. Meanwhile, far from home, Sir Josse’s son Ninian has become involved in the cause of the doomed Cathar people; soon to be swept up in a fight that they cannot hope to win

The new novel in the ever-popular ‘Hawkenlye’ series - Autumn, 1210. A year ago, King John was excommunicated – and now his men have come to Hawkenlye Abbey to take it over. Abbess Caliste, Helewise’s successor, worries how she is to feed the nuns under her care, let alone conduct her usual good works. Meanwhile, Helewise has moved into Hawkenlye Manor with Josse, and their lives are full of family and warmth. But after a visit to St Edmund’s Chapel, Helewise’s eleven-year-old granddaughter, Rosamund, goes missing – and soon all that they hold dear is threatened . . .

'skillfully plotted, delightfully written genre-bender with appealing characters, bold adventure and dark intrigue. Top notch!' - Booklist Starred Review

The new novel in the Hawkenlye series

May 1199. Abbess Helewise has been summoned by Queen Eleanor to discuss the building of a chapel at Hawkenlye Abbey. Meanwhile, Sir Josse dAcquin is on the trail of a group of mysterious knights rumoured to be devil worshippers. As Helewise heads for home, Josse follows his quarry to Chartres, where he meets the last person he expects: Joanna. And she has grave problems of her own . . .

It is midsummer 1195. An impoverished man claims to have discovered Merlin’s tomb and builds a hostel for pilgrims while spreading the word that his find is a place of miracles. This blasphemous intrusion is deeply resented both by the community at Hawkenlye Abbey and the pagan people of the forest. Though the finger of blame points at both communities following the man’s murder, the perennial sleuths Josse d’Acquin and Abbess Helewise soon discover that other parties also had an interest in his death. His wife does not seem distressed at his passing, possibly because she is pregnant despite having not slept with her husband for nearly six months.

The new novel in the popular Hawkenlye series - Autumn 1196. A secretive stranger arrives at New Winnowlands, and Sir Josse dAcquin guesses that he is a returning Crusader. Josse seeks the assistance of Abbess Helewise of Hawkenlye to have the mans injuries treated in the infirmary. But then the various demons who are on the mans trail begin to turn up, and Josse realizes that his mysterious guest has brought with him a terrible secret . . .

February 1194. A very sick man is making for Hawkenlye Abbey in the desperate hope of a miracle cure. In his delirium he sees the Virgin Mary, the same miraculous vision that led to the foundation of the Abbey. He watches the beautiful woman approach and, sinking to his knees, he begins to pray. She is the last person he will ever see.

Abbess Helewise is struggling to keep the Abbey going through a brutal winter, and in the midst of this hardship, her son returns after 20 years in desperate need of help. Then a man is found strangled, and the next day her son flees. Helewise and Josse d’Acquin must now investigate the past—to a time before Helewise took the veil. Were her handsome husband and her enigmatic father-in-law all that they seemed? And can she prevent another terrible murder—or will the sins of the fathers be laid upon her innocent son?

The young, beautiful Galena and her husband, the much older Ambrose are trying for a child but to no avail. When Josse d'Acquin tells her of the healing waters of Hawkenlye, she is overjoyed and sets off with her escort. But she arrives alone, and a few days after her husband joins her she dies in agony on the infirmary floor. On examination it appears she was poisoned and that she was pregnant after all. Josse and Helewise are determined to solve the riddle of her death—even if it leads them into danger as well.

Josse D’Acquin and the Abbess Helewise are appalled by the fanatical new priest, Father Micah, but are even more horrified when his body turns up by the side of the road. And when it appears that a band of evangelical heretics, whom Micah condemned to the stake, might be behind his death, the Abbess is torn between her compassion for their suffering and her duty to the church. When Josse realizes that his desire to save the heretics cannot be condoned by Helewise, he is forced to act against her wishes, risking the greatest friendship he has. For the Abbess, her friendship with Josse is deepening the longer he stays at the abbey, as is her…

An elderly pilgrim dies in Hawkenlye Vale. It is nothing suspicious, for he was gravely ill when he arrived. Meanwhile, Josse d’Acquin has a visit from Prince John, seeking news of a stranger, Galbertius Sidonius. Hurrying to Hawkenlye Abbey to enlist the help of Abbess Helewise, Josse finds she has a problem of her own—a decomposing body has been discovered, naked and killed by an expert hand. When Josse’s brother, Yves, arrives, the three are hurled into a mystery with roots that reach back further than the Second Crusade.

A man from London has taken over the tavern on the main London to Hastings highway to the south of Tonbridge. He is not what he appears, and his arrival ushers in a sequence of apparently unrelated but disturbing events, whose escalating violence culminates in murder.

The serenity of Hawkenlye Abbey has been disturbed by the arrival of a new nun and her two young sisters. Recently orphaned, Alba has left her convent in Ely to take her grieving sisters from the scene of their sorrow. Abbess Helewise is not convinced of her selflessnessSister Alba is a mean-spirited and turbulent presence. Her anxieties grow when her friend Josse d Acquin is brought to Hawkenlye, half-dead from blood poisoning. Then a body is discovered, and one of the sisters goes missing. In order to discover the truth behind Alba s flight to Hawkenlye, Helewise sets off for Ely, where sheuncovers a clever and chilling network of lies."

The First Gabriel Taverner mystery. &t;br/&t; Devon, 1607. Gabriel Taverner, former ship’s surgeon turned country physician, is called to examine a rotting body found impaled on a blade. Identifying the corpse seems a hopeless task and the death is declared a suicide. &t;br/&t; But Gabriel is not satisfied and re-examines the body – making the first of a series of shocking discoveries that will lead him deep into the dark underbelly of the lucrative silk trade. As he investigates, Gabriel realises that not only was the death a murder – but even worse, he had a personal connection with the corpse.