The Tainted Relic [Paperback]

The Medieval Murderers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2005

In 1100, an English knight named was entrusted with a precious religious relic—a piece of the True Cross, allegedly stained with the blood of Christ. The relic is said to curse anyone who touches with a gruesome end as soon as it leaves their possession. Several decades pass, and the Cross turns up in the possession of a dealer who is robbed and murdered en route to Glastonbury. Investigating the death, Bernard Knight’s protagonist, Crowner John, learns of the relic’s dark history. In 1269, the discovery of a decapitated monk leads Ian Morson’s academic sleuth William Falconer to uncover a link to the relic, and in 1323, Michael Jecks’ Sir Baldwin Furnshill has reason to suspect the relic’s involvement in at least five violent deaths. Finally, the relic is dispatched to London, where it falls into the hands of an unscrupulous book dealer—and where Philip Gooden’s Nick Revill will determine its ultimate fate.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This entertaining but uneven round-robin effort by six British crime writers traces the sinister history of a "fragment of the true cross" from its origin in Jerusalem in A.D. 1100 through 10 bloody centuries. In Beaufort's prologue, Barzac, the unlikely Arab custodian of this artifact, places a curse on anyone touching the scrap of wood "stained with Christ's blood" after Crusaders massacre his family. The relic claims three victims in Jerusalem before turning up in 1194 in England, where chapman Robert Blundus (in Knight's absorbing "Act One") seeks to peddle this treasure to any willing churchman. Further travails over the centuries lead to Philip Gooden's lively conclusion, in which Shakespeare and friends get embroiled in a semicomical mixup between a missing play of his and this "popish gewgaw." A brief epilogue, set in present-day London, provides a final ironic twist. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

The Medieval Murderers are Michael Jecks, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Ian Morson, Philip Gooden, and Simon Beaufort.

Product Details

• Paperback: 502 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (May 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743267958
• ISBN-13: 978-0743267953
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,868,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Medieval Murderers, June 26, 2005

By 

M. Shankland (Hove) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tainted Relic (Paperback)

'The Tainted Relic' is collaboration between the 'Medieval Murderers' collective of murder mystery writers (namely Simon Beaufort, Michael Jecks, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Ian Morson, Philip Gooden). The relic in question is (allegedly) a piece of the true cross taken from Jerusalem after the Second Crusade took the city in July 1100. The Crusaders' victory is marked by indiscriminate slaughter of Jews and Moslems living in the city, and the Arab guardian of this relic curses it after finding that the Crusaders have butchered his family and are about to cut him down. The relic brings death to those who possess it, and travels through the medieval timeline in England, encountering the different characters and eras which have been used by the Medieval Murderers in their respective novels. What makes this novel particularly interesting -apart from the joint author aspect- is that you can read it as a sequence of murder mysteries, or you can read it as a horror novel. Or perhaps on a more esoteric level,as a comment on the nature of Medieval Christendom, forever corrupted by the brutality of July 1100.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique Work, March 19, 2007

By 

P. Schaum "prussblue" (St. Louis area, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Tainted Relic (Paperback)

This is the first work in historical murder mystery I have ever seen with multiple authors writing on the same theme. While not all the authors meet the level of Jecks or Knight, the work as a whole still deserves 5 stars. You may not like parts of this "meal" but you won't leave hungry for a treat in murder mystery. It starts in one time period and ends ... well buy it and read it. They don't pay me, I purchase their works when not reading academic works, etc. I am also disabled veteran who needs a break from the other materials mentioned. It was my good fortune to find Jecks and Knight and now these other friends of theirs. There are too many writing "murder mystery" and getting away with their writing and folks like these not getting the credit due them.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Five stories - one theme, November 2, 2007

By 

Brian Jones "Brian Keith Jones (www.new-gate.... (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tainted Relic (Medieval Murderers Group 1) (Paperback)

In many ways, The Tainted Relic is five separate novellas all created with a single theme. An interesting concept, five different writers each take a period of time and then build a story around an alleged splinter of Jesus' cross that is stained with his blood. An invaluable possession in the medieval period of the stories, it carries with it a curse that leaves everyone that comes in contact with it dead. The stories are loosely connected across time, and provide for some good casual reading.