Ian Morson Libri

It is 1268. Oxford is forced to play host to the Tartars, a tribe from the East whose deeds have wreaked havoc in France and Germany. This time they claim their mission is a peaceful one -- they merely wish to gain audience with the king. But are they to be trusted? When the Tartar ambassador is found dead, it looks like cold-blooded murder. Falconer is on the case once more, but even when he thinks he's solved the case, he still has to trick the murderer into giving himself away.

A medieval mystery novel, featuring Master William Falconer, who witnesses the death of a stand-in on the stage of a troupe of street entertainers. From the author of FALCONER'S JUDGEMENT and FALCONER'S CRUSADE.

Oxford University, in 1264, the savage murder of a young girl kindles a frenzy of suspicion between privileged students and impoverished townspeople. And when one of Falconer's students who may have witnessed the crime narrowly escapes being beaten to death by a lynch mob, the Regent Master rushes to his defense.

In Rome, Pope Alexander IV lies dying. From the East, an assassin is sent by a powerful royal family. In Wallingford Castle a young man is held prisoner, charged with a murder he did not commit... In the swirling mists of Oxford, Regent Master William Falconer, Aristotelian philosopher and amateur sleuth, searches for the whereabouts of his mentor, Roger Bacon. But a political intrigue is about to explode. The Papal Legate's brother-a master cook-is killed with an arrow during a student riot. While authorities crack down on the disorder and zealots warn of the Apocalypse, Falconer begins an investigation. Now the man of reason must enter a labyrinth or madness-where ambition, deceit, and murder are the order of the day.

Down on his luck Venetian entrepreneur Nick Zuliani accepts an offer by Friar Alberoni to act as his bodyguard on a journey to the Mongol overlord, Kubla Khan and finds himself investigating a murder in the fabled city of Xanadu.

From its first arrival in Britain with the Norman forces of William the Conqueror, violence and revenge are the cursed sword's constant companions. From an election-rigging scandal in 13th century Venice to the battlefield of Poitiers in 1356, as the Sword of Shame passes from owner to owner in this compelling collection of interlinked mysteries, it brings nothing but bad luck and disgrace to all who possess it.