January, 1145. Godfrey Bowyer, the best but least likeable bow maker in Worcester, dies an agonising death by poisoning. Although similarly struck down after the same meal, his wife, Blanche, survives. The number of people who could have administered the poison should mean a very short investigation for the sheriff’s men, Hugh Bradecote, Serjeant Catchpoll and Underserjeant Walkelin, but perhaps someone was pulling the strings, and that widens the net considerably.

Winter 1372, York. A man has drowned in the River Ouse after a skirmish with boys from St Peter’s School. It soon becomes clear that his death was not an accident – but why would a humble pilot on the river be killed for possessing a young boy’s purse? Suspicion falls on Father Nicholas Ferriby – Vicar of Weston and master of a small grammar school – who has already offended many with his unpopular beliefs. But is he really a murderer?

In the safety of her adoptive father's estate, south of London, Felise Scelfton is raised oblivious to the power of her beauty and rumors of her dowry. But when the knights of Windsor court brandish their swords and bid for her hand, Felise realizes she'd better keep her flirtatious tongue in check, lest her jests be taken as vows. Little does Felise know that King Henry II has already decided her fate - his royal command gives her hand to Sir Royce Leighton, the scarred and brooding lord of Segeland, in order to seal a political alliance.

1197 A.D. - Sir Garren le Mon is an agent for Richard the Lion Heart in the political war against his brother, John. Under the command of William Marshall, Chancellor of England, Garren is the king's most trusted and loyal servant. When Garren is ordered to marry into a family deeply loyal to Prince John, the knight is understandably reluctant; the House of de Rosa is infamous for its bloodlust and bizarre characters.

Ralph Delchard, a soldier who fought at the Battle of Hastings, and Gervase Bret, a talented lawyer, have been commissioned by William the Conqueror to look into irregularities brought to light during the compilation of the Domesday Book. A man’s body is found mutilated in Savernake Forest and the residents of Bedwyn sleep uneasy at night, fearing a monster stalking the town. When Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret arrive, they discover that the locals are harbouring dark secrets and that the real killer may be a little closer to home....

Late summer, 1270. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs over the land. In the small priory of Tyndal, the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevraud long for a return to routine. Their hopes are dashed, however, when the young and inexperienced Eleanor of Wynethorpe is appointed their new prioress. Only a day after her arrival, a brutally murdered monk is found in the cloister gardens, and Brother Thomas, a young priest with a troubled past, arrives to bring her a more personal grief.

Three gripping tales from number one best seller S. J. Parris. The Secret Dead: during the summer of 1566, a girl’s body is found within the walls of a Neapolitan monastery. Novice monk Giordano Bruno has a habit of asking difficult questions, but this time his investigations may lose him his place in the Dominican Order - or deliver him into the hands of the Inquisition. Also includes The Academy of Secrets and The Dead of Winter.

When she's not digging up bones or other ancient objects, Ruth Galloway lectures at the University of North Norfolk. She lives happily alone in a remote place called Saltmarsh overlooking the North Sea and, for company; she has her cats Flint and Sparky, and Radio 4. When a child's bones are found in the marshes near an ancient site that Ruth worked on ten years earlier, Ruth is asked to date them.

England, 1176. Aelred Barling, esteemed clerk to the justices of King Henry II, is dispatched from the royal court with his young assistant, Hugo Stanton, to investigate a brutal murder in a village outside York. The case appears straightforward. A suspect is under lock and key in the local prison, and the angry villagers are demanding swift justice. But when more bodies are discovered, certainty turns to doubt - and amid the chaos it becomes clear that nobody is above suspicion.

In 1137 the ambitious head of Shrewsbury Abbey has decided to acquire the remains of Saint Winifred for his Benedictine order. Brother Cadfael is part of the expedition sent to her final resting place in Wales, where they find the villagers passionately divided by the Benedictines' offer for the saint's relics. Canny, wise and all too worldly, Cadfael isn't surprised when this taste for bones leads to bloody murder. The leading opponent to moving the grave has been shot dead with a mysterious arrow, and some say Winifred herself dealt the blow.

Hugh of Singleton, fourth son of a minor knight, has been educated as a clerk, usually a prelude to taking holy orders. However, feeling no certain calling despite a lively faith, he turns to the profession of surgeon, training in Paris and then hanging out his sign in Oxford. A local lord asks him to track the killer of a young woman whose bones have been found in the castle cesspit. She is identified as the impetuous missing daughter of a local blacksmith, and her young man, whom she had provoked very publicly, is in due course arrested and sentenced at the Oxford assizes.

He bears the name of de Russe, but the bloodlines of six great houses converge in the greatest knight England has yet seen. As the grandfather of Gaston de Russe, the dark one, Sir Bastien de Russe beholds a great and terrible legacy - one that makes him both the target and the leader, the hunter and the hunted. His story is the most powerful of all. Greatness and darkness abide in the man known as the beast.

The reign of King John means dark days for all of England. Not one man, woman, or child lived without fear. Magnifying this fear is the man they call The Lord of the Shadows - a terrifying figure who sits at the right hand of the King, manipulating the royal moves like a puppet master. The Lord of the Shadows has been known to tear men apart with his bare hands and can, with a snap of his fingers, alter the future of anyone he chooses.

AD 1139 - When her husband perishes in a skirmish, the Lady Cantia du Bexley Penden is distraught. Her husband was assisting the mighty Viscount Winterton in the battle for the throne between Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois, caught, like most men, in a vicious struggle for the rightful ruler of England.

AD 1461 - Two brothers and the best of friends. One is betrayed and murdered at the Battle of Towton by men who were supposed to be his allies. The surviving brother, Sir Atticus de Wolfe, promises to seek revenge for his brother's murder. The Lion of Northumbria, heir to The Wolfe's legacy, is now unleashed and seeking vengeance. No one is safe until his bloodlust is sated.