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A Vigil of Spies
Book Ten in the Owen Archer Series
- Author: Candace Robb
- Category: Fiction
- Publisher: William Heinemann(UK)
- Pub date: January 2008
- Length: 304 pages
About A Vigil of Spies
A callous murder – A devastating secret – A crime of passion – Bishopthorpe Palace, York. September 1373: John Thoresby, the Archbishop of York, lies dying. One of the most powerful men in the country, his imminent demise has the influential families of the north vying to influence his succession. Owen Archer, Thoresby’s master of the guards, is one of the few men Thoresby trusts. He is determined to ensure that his lord’s last days are as peaceful as possible, but his plans are thrown into disarray when Thoresby agrees to a visit from Joan, Princess of Wales, wife of the Black Prince and mother of the young heir to the throne of England. She has come to seek the great man’s advice before it is too late. Owen resolves to do his duty, but within minutes of Joan’s arrival things go disastrously wrong when a member of the royal party is murdered. Then, only days later, a messenger carrying urgent letters for Thoresby is found hanging in the woods. Soon, the shadow of suspicion falls on the whole household. And as Owen races against time to find the murderer amongst them, he starts to realise that not only has one of his own men been compromised but all their lives are now in danger…
About the Author
Candace Robb studied for a PhD in Medieval and Anglo-Saxon literature and has continued to read, research and lecture on medieval history and literature ever since. Her first collection of novels, the Owen Archer series, grew out of a fascination with the city of York and the tumultuous fourteenth century; the first in the series, THE APOTHECARY ROSE, was published in 1994, at which point she began to write full time. She has also written the successful Margaret Kerr series. There are now three Margaret Kerr novels, and ten Owen Archer novels.