Medieval Mysteries
This is a list of popular medieval mysteries, available in ebook, print or audio books.
Wine of Violence
by Priscilla Royal
A genuine medieval murder mystery series, beginning in England in 1270. The principal investigator is Prioress Eleanor. Brother Thomas is a major recurring character who struggles with his attraction to men.
It is late summer in the year 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. Now Eleanor must not only struggle to gain the respect of her terrified and resentful flock but also cope with violence, lust, and greed.
Nicked
by M.T. Anderson
Medieval, male/queer, funny, adventurous and based around a criminal undertaking—the theft of the relics of St Nicholas. It is more heist/adventure than whodunit. Anderson himself describes it as a medieval novel noir, monastic meet-cute and historical adventure.
The year is 1087, and a pox is sweeping through the Italian city of Bari. When a lowly monk is visited by Saint Nicholas in his dreams, he interprets the vision as a call to serve the sick. But his superiors, and the power brokers they serve, have different plans for the tender-hearted Brother Nicephorus.
Enter Tyun, a charismatic treasure hunter renowned for “liberating” holy relics from their tombs. The seven-hundred-year-old bones of Saint Nicholas are rumored to weep a mysterious liquid that can heal the sick, Tyun says. For the humble price of a small fortune, he will steal the bones and deliver them to Bari, curing the plague and restoring glory to the fallen city. And Nicephorus, the “dreamer,” will be his guide.
What follows is a heist for the ages, as Nicephorus is swept away on strange tides, and alongside even stranger bedfellows, to commit sacrilegious theft. Based on real historical accounts, Nicked is a wildly imaginative, genre-defying, and delightfully queer adventure – a swashbuckling saga, a medieval novel noir, a meditation on the miraculous, and a monastic meet-cute, filled with wide-eyed wonder at the world that awaits beyond our own borders.
A Knight’s Tale: Montargis
by Gabriella West
France, 1266. Will and his lover, Stephen, are safely ensconced at Montargis Abbey, a Dominican convent two days' ride south of Paris, where the widowed Lady Eleanor de Montfort has chosen to live out her days in peace and seclusion with her young daughter. Will and Stephen fall into a pleasant routine of chores, while Wilecok keeps the small household running with his work in the kitchen. It's in many ways an idyllic life, one that Will could not have predicted. And when they hear that Kenilworth Castle has fallen after a long siege, it seems that the rebellion against the English Crown that the Montforts spearheaded has well and truly ended.
But the reappearance of Simon brings a complexity to Will's life, for he is still passionately attracted. Even as he and Stephen grow closer and more deeply attached, the shadow of Simon periodically falls over their relationship. A sudden, horrific act of murder in the year 1271, Will's 25th year, shatters their calm. In the aftermath, Lady Eleanor commands a reluctant Will to journey to a castle in southern Tuscany to visit her mortally ill son. It's here that he will learn the devastating truth about Simon's misdeeds, a truth that Will has not wanted to face, and which changes everything.
Dagger of Deception
by Andrew Ashling
Dagger of Deception is a historical mystery, set in the medieval World of Anaxantis. The main storyline is called Dark Tales of Randamor the Recluse and consists, at the time of first publication of this book (November, 2022), of seven books, a trilogy and a quadrilogy. Although it is parallel to the main series, this is a stand-alone story. It is also far lighter fare than the Dark Tales.
After the victorious Battle of the Zinchara, the prince’s pages have taken up their usual routine of exercise, study, service, raiding Lorseth’s taverns, and bickering among themselves. Everything seems peaceful enough until a village girl accuses one of the pages—and a master of pages, no less—of having raped her, leaving her with child. A charge which Eynurm of Tarnwood vigorously denies.
Since there is no proof and Eynurm has a solid reputation everyone concerned thinks that this straw fire will be easily stomped out. That is, until the maiden in question is found dead with a dagger in her belly. A dagger that bears the crest of Eynurm’s House.
Luckily for Eynurm, he has two good friends, Rahendo and Ryhunzo, who believe he has been set up and who swear they won’t rest until they have discovered the real murderer…
Death and the Chapman
by Kate Sedley
The political situation in 1471 is complex and the war between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions rages on. But for Roger the Chapman, who has recently given up a monk's cell for freedom to be found peddling his wares on the open road, life goes on much as normal.
Until, that is, he gets caught up in the strange disappearance of Clement Weaver, only son of a wealthy Bristol alderman. It seems that Clement is not the only one to have vanished without a trace from London's Crossed Hands Inn…
Roger's interest is piqued and at the request of the alderman he sets off for the bustle and excitement of London, to find out just how Clement disappeared. It is a journey that carries him to a confrontation with the highest power in the land, and puts his life in mortal peril.
