Master of the Keys

January 1191. The Yorkshire town of Beverley is in the grip of one of the harshest winters of its history, but the starving, disease weakened people take comfort in the knowledge that Cyrus de Figham, the evil canon who incited the previous summer's rioting, is dead.

In the vacuum created by de Figham's absence, the struggle for power and profit flares again as the privileged few see dominance over the town -- men like Wulfric de Morthlun whose sins are too unnatural for confession; Geoffrey Plantagenet, the Archbishop of York determined to exert authority over an unruly diocese; and Hector de Figham, the embittered brother come to reclaim his long-denied inheritance. The fate of the town lies in the hands of Simeon, the goodly priest who, despite the dangers, dreams of restoring the ruined Minster to its former glory -- and fulfilling the destiny of his godson, Peter, as Keeper of the Holy Shrine of St John of Beverley.

But in a nearby monastery an unexpected danger is stirring, a shadow as insidious as the pestilence itself, reaching out for Beverley once again…