The hanging tree /

Standard print edition originally published: Edinburgh: Severn House.

London, 1382. The Crown's treasury, the most secure chamber in the kingdom, has been robbed, and the five guards brutally killed. Brother Athelstan is set to investigate, but he has problems of his own. A body is found in the nave of his parish church, identified as a craftsman who fashioned the complex locks to the royal treasure chamber. Brother Athelstan must solve a theft from the royal treasure chamber and the murders of six executioners in this gripping medieval mystery. London. January, 1382. The Crown's treasury has been robbed. Tens of thousands of silver and gold coins mysteriously lifted from the most secure chamber in the kingdom; the five Clerks of the Dark who guarded the king's treasure brutally garrotted. Sir John Cranston and Brother Athelstan are appointed to investigate - but Athelstan has problems of his own. Clement the Key Master, who helped fashion the complex locks to the royal treasure chamber, has been found strangled in the nave of Athelstan's parish, St Erconwald's church. At the same time, six of the city's hangmen have been savagely murdered, their bodies stripped. Pinned to each corpse is a scrawled note: "Vengeance! The Upright Men never forget!" The Guild of Hangmen who frequent the majestic tavern, The Hanging Tree, on the River Thames, have petitioned for Sir John and Brother Athelstan to find the culprit. But have the sleuthing pair taken on more than they can handle . . . and could the two investigations be connected?