'Hugh de Singleton is a delight... the well-crafted plot, the excellent period detail and the flashes of humour.' Donna Fletcher Crow, author of The Monastery Murders "My life would have been more tranquil in the days after Martinmas had I not seen the crows. Whatever it was that the crows had found lay in the dappled shadow of the bare limbs of the oak, so I was nearly upon the thing before I recognized what the crows were feasting upon. The corpse wore black." Master Hugh is making his way towards Oxford when he discovers the young Benedictine - a fresh body, barefoot - not half a mile from the nearby abbey. The abbey's novice master confirms the boy's identity: John, one of three novices. But he had gone missing four days previously, and his corpse is fresh. There has been plague in the area, but this was not the cause of death: the lad has been stabbed in the back. To Hugh's sinking heart, the abbot has a commission for him ... A new and disturbing puzzle for the medieval surgeon-turned-sleuth.

A beautiful Christmas story, including a forbidden romance, a ghost, a magic recovery and lots of intrigues.

The Abbot's Ghost or, Maurice Treherne's Temptation A Christmas Story A.M. Barnard [ZHINGOORA BOOKS]

Dan Curran is a rookie journalist newly recruited from university to the Castlebridge Gazette, a struggling provincial newspaper owned by distinguished Fleet Street veteran, Jack Marston. Although sad to have moved away from home Dan relishes his newfound freedom, away from his father’s disapproval of his new career. Dan’s first assignment is to investigate why the Castlebridge District Council have inexplicably reversed a decision to sell council-owned land known locally as Abbott’s Meadow, thwarting a local builder’s development plans. This seems to be a ‘nothing story’, destined to be just a by-line on a slow news day. However, Dan’s visit to see a council elder provides unconvincing answers, and he sets out to uncover the truth. By chance, Dan meets a pretty council finance officer, Julie, who gets drawn into helping Dan’s investigations. He takes courage from her fiery temperament and soon finds himself falling under her spell. Together the two of them uncover a web of intrigue, deception, crime and even murder, all leading back to the secrets of Abbott’s Meadow.