The Templar's Penance

Много лет «Адмирал Бинг» – уютный паб в приморской деревушке Крэбуэлл – посещали и местные обитатели, и туристы. Но однажды его владелец Джеффри Горацио Фитцсиммонс был найден мертвым в лодке у причала…

Возможно, бедняга просто покончил с собой, сломавшись под грузом долгов, неоплаченных счетов и перспектив закрытия своего любимого детища? Но команда телевизионщиков-документалистов, прибывших в деревушку, так не думает. Они намерены выяснить, что же произошло с Фитцсиммонсом, даже если ради этого придется перевернуть каждый камень в Крэбуэлле и вытащить из шкафов все скелеты.

… Peter Clifford, priest of the bustling town of Crediton in Devonshire, is an anxious man. Already nervous about the impending visit of the Bishop of Exeter, he is disturbed to see that a company of violent mercenaries has taken up residence at the inn. They threaten to make the visit a disaster. Mercenaries are an unpleasant reality in the fourteenth century, but this group seems particularly bent on havoc. Not only do they show no respect to the priest, but other travellers are terrified to come near them, and there's a rumour that a local girl has been seduced by their leader…

Simon Puttock, bailiff of Lydford, and Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, are invited to Peter's house to help welcome the bishop, though both have their own reasons to want to avoid this. They welcome the diversion offered by a sudden commotion outside but when they find there's been a robbery among the mercenaries, they are less grateful for the interruption. Then a young girl is discovered murdered, hidden in a chest – and this is only the first of the Crediton killings.

As murder follows brutal murder, Simon and Baldwin must discover the killer's identity before he can murder again – and before their own lives, dangerously caught up in the intrigues, are put at risk…

For Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, and his friend, Bailiff Simon Puttock, the Christmas of 1321 looks set to be one of great festivity. As a reward for their services in a previous investigation, they've been summoned to Exeter to receive the prestigious gloves of honour in a ceremony led by the specially elected Boy-Bishop. But the dead man swinging on the gallows as they arrive is a portentous greeting.

Within hours they learn that Ralph – the cathedral's glovemaker and the city's beloved philanthropist – has been robbed and stabbed to death. His apprentice is the obvious suspect but there's no trace of the missing jewels and money. When Peter, a Secondary at the cathedral, collapses from poisoning in the middle of Mass, the finger of suspicion turns to him. Yet if he was Ralph's attacker, where is the money now? And could Peter have committed suicide – or was he murdered, too?

When the Dean and city Coroner ask Simon and Baldwin to solve the riddles surrounding the deaths, they are initially reluctant, believing them to be unconnected. But as they dig for the truth they find that many of Exeter's leading citizens are not what – or who – they first seem to be, and that the city's Christmas bustle is concealing a ruthless murderer who is about to strike again…

It is 1321 and the King's favourite, Hugh Despenser, is corruptly using his position to steal lands and wealth from other lords. His rapacity has divided the nation and civil war looms.

In Tiverton rape and murder have unsettled the folk preparing for St Giles' feast. Philip Dyne has confessed and claimed sanctuary in St Peter's church, but he must leave the country. If he doesn't, he'll be declared an outlaw, his life forfeit.

Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, and his friend, Bailiff Simon Puttock, arrive at Lord Hugh de Courtenay's castle at Tiverton for the feast. When a messenger arrives calling for the Coroner, Baldwin and Simon accompany him to view the body of Sir Gilbert of Carlisle, Despenser's ambassador to Lord Hugh. Not far off lies a second corpse: the decapitated figure of Dyne. The Coroner is satisfied that Dyne killed the knight and was then murdered: Dyne was an outlaw, so he doesn't merit the law's attention, but Sir Baldwin feels too many questions are left unanswered. How could a weak, unarmed peasant kill a trained warrior? And if he did, what happened to Sir Gilbert's horse – and his money?

When Baldwin and Simon are themselves viciously attacked, they know that there must be another explanation. A more sinister enemy is at large, someone with a powerful motive to kill. But there are so many suspects…