The Magician's Death
Another P. C. Doherty historical mystery, this time set in medieval England, in the early 14th century and towards the end of the reign of Edward I . The focus is on his continual efforts to trump Philip IV of France , and the works of Roger Bacon . Sir Hugh Corbett , Keeper of the Secret Seal and the eyes and ears of King Edward I, serves as the intelligent academic and criminologist. It begins, as every good mystery should, with a death, here following a theft of a copy of Bacon's Secretus Secretorum (a lovely play on Secretum Secretorum ) from the French. The basis of the plot? Decode Bacon's, a priest and scientist, work by finding the key to his book because it's all written in code, and ultimately shift the balances of power in the favor of the one that makes the discovery first! Both Kings send envoys, academics led by a shrewd politician, to try and figure this out through mutual cooperation, but foul play is suspected in achieving these ends as people begin to die...