The Sixteenth Chronicle of Matthew BartholomewThere is unease in the chill winter of Cambridge in 1358. A thief is at work in the houses of the wealthy, colleges are vying with each other for funds and academic recognition, and the shrine of St Simon Stock is attracting both pilgrims and those who prey on them – charlatans peddling fake relics and dubious pardons.When the body of one of the town’s richest taverners is found in Michaelhouse it at first seems his death was accidental, but when Bartholomew views the corpse he knows it is murder. There is no shortage of suspects to investigate, from the tenants who have publicly argued with the victim to his merrily ‘grieving’ widow, but the trail has been blurred by someone who is using the discovery of the body to try and discredit the college.Against a background of rising tension between the colleges and the increasing audacity of the thief, Bartholomew and Brother Michael hunt desperately for the proof that will unmask the identity of the killer and reveal the motivation of someone determined to ruin both Michaelhouse and all those connected to it…

The Nineteenth Chronicle of Matthew BartholomewMatthew Bartholomew doesn't want to travel to Peterborough in the summer of 1358, but his friendship with the lovely Julitta Holm has caused a scandal in Cambridge, so he has no choice. He is one of a party of Bishop's Commissioners, charged to discover what happened to Peterborough's abbot, who went for a ride one day and has not been seen since. When the Commissioners arrive, they find the town in turmoil. A feisty rabble-rouser is encouraging the poor to rise up against their overlords, the abbey is at war with a powerful goldsmith and his army of mercenaries, and there are bitter rivalries between competing shrines. One shrine is dedicated to Lawrence de Oxforde, a vicious felon who was executed for his crimes, but who has been venerated after miracles started occurring at his grave. However, it is not long before murder rears its head, and its first victim is Joan, the woman in charge of Oxforde's tomb.

The Eleventh Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew.On St Scholastica’s Day in February 1355, Oxford explodes in one of the most serious riots in its turbulent history.Fearing for their lives, the scholars flee the city, and some choose to travel to Cambridge, believing that the killer of one of their colleagues is to be found in the rival University town. Within hours of their arrival, one member of their party dies, followed quickly by a second. Alarmed, they quickly begin an investigation to find the culprit.Brother Michael is incensed that anyone should presume to conduct such enquiries in his domain without consulting him, and is dismissive of the visitors’ insistence that Cambridge might be harbouring a murderer. He is irked, too, by the fact that Matthew Bartholomew, his friend and Corpse Examiner, appears to be wholly distracted by the charms of the town’s leading prostitute.

The Twenty Fourth Chronicle of Matthew BartholomewIn 1360 Edward III issues a call to arms, as sporadic attacks by the French threaten to turn into a full-blown invasion. In Cambridge, fear of the enemy is magnified by the belief that foreign agents are lurking in the area. Tension runs ever higher as rumours and ignorance fan the flames of suspicion amid preparations for war.And then the first murder occurs – of a French scholar living in the town.At Michaelhouse, Brother Michael is now Master, but his reach of power in the University is under threat by the election of a new Chancellor and his cohort of dubious advisors. Soon, the Colleges begin to squabble amongst themselves, as well as with the town that never wanted a University in the first place.Amidst this atmosphere of swelling distrust, physician Matthew Bartholomew is called upon to investigate mysterious deaths in a nearby hospital. He quickly realises that there is something odd about the inmates and their keepers – something dark and deadly, which seems to be connected to the growing number of murders in the town. Pressure mounts as the University and the town clamour for answers, leading Bartholomew and Michael in a frantic quest for a solution before the powder-keg of animosity in Cambridge is ignited.

The Twelfth Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew.In the bitter winter of 1356 Matthew Bartholomew and his book-bearer Cynric accompany Brother Michael to Lincoln, so that Michael can be installed as a cathedral canon. Bartholomew is also on a personal quest, continuing his search for the beautiful Matilde.The Michaelhouse men find Lincoln an unholy place, riven by discord, with a Bishop seemingly unable to control the wild behaviour of his cathedral clergy, and with a sheriff happily accepting bribes to give him, if not Lincoln’s citizens, a peaceful life. They also find murder, and the reappearance of a holy relic that had been stolen more than twenty years earlier.Against their will, the Cambridge scholars are drawn into investigating the unnatural deaths, and the circumstances surrounding the provenance of the so-called Hugh Chalice, endangering both their lives and their souls as they are caught up in the maelstrom of corruption that courses through the ancient city. And through it all, Bartholomew continues his desperate hunt for the elusive Matilde …

The Thirteenth Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew.It is the year 1357, and the University at Cambridge is in a sorry state.Careful examination of the University’s finances reveals serious shortfalls. Meanwhile, the town’s landlords are demanding huge rent increases for the rooms they lease to students, and the plague has left the Colleges with scant money to pay for vital repairs to their walls and roofs. But for Matthew Bartholomew, Fellow of Michaelhouse, there is another problem nearer much closer to his heart: the arrival of a certain Richard Arderne, a healer with ‘magical’ powers, who claims to be able to awaken the dead.But Arderne cannot banish death entirely. Not when it arrives in the form of murder. Is the killer a rapacious landlord? Or the healer himself, with his spells and incantations?Against a backdrop of rivalry between town and gown, of gambling dens and missing persons, and of dissent between the Franciscans and Dominicans, Bartholomew and his colleague Brother Michael must find the viper in the University’s midst before the entire town descends into anarchy. And before Bartholomew and Michael themselves are killed…