CRIME & MYSTERY. An intriguing new Brother Athelstan historical mystery. December, 1380. When the corpse of Sir Robert Kilverby, a wealthy Cheapside merchant, is discovered in a locked room, Brother Athelstan accompanies the King's coroner, Sir John Cranston, to investigate. For Sir Robert had in his possession a priceless relic, a sacred bloodstone which he was planning to donate to the Abbey of St Fulcher-on-Thames. The bloodstone has disappeared and the Regent, John of Gaunt, who covets the relic for himself, is taking an uncomfortably close interest in the case. Did Sir Robert die of natural causes or was he murdered? Athelstan is sceptical of rumours of a curse hanging over Sir Robert and his fellow soldiers of the Wyvern Company, who plundered the bloodstone from the Abbey of St Castille during the war against France. But when it is discovered that a second old soldier has been gruesomely slain on the same night, the rumours no longer seem so far-fetched.