Synopsis
It's
the 14th century, and once again a pilgrim in a group
traveling the long, hard road to Canterbury is telling
a story to enliven the evenings (A Tapestry of Murders,
1996, etc.). The narrator this time is the Poor Priest,
whose tale begins in 1308 when the Knights Templar, a
religious order once powerful, now in disgrace, flee their
London headquarters, hoping to reach passage to France.
They meet a dreadful end in the woods and marshes of Kent,
near Scawsby, a rumored treasure disappearing with them.
Seventy
years later, brother priests Philip and Edmund Trumpington
are assigned to Scawsby's St. Oswald's Church, bringing
with them old friend and master mason Stephen Merkle.
Their plan is to build another church nearby, moving more
recent burials to a new graveyard. But Philip soon discovers
the reason for the short stays of previous pastors: the
church and its environs are haunted big-timewith visions,
voices, apparitions, and deaths, all seemingly to do with
the long-gone Templars and buried riches. Source:
Kirkus Reviews