Description
Relics of the Dead by Ariana Franklin, the third novel in the Mistress of the Art of Death #3 series, returns Adelia Aguilar to a medieval England where legend, politics and violence are tightly entwined.
When two skeletons are unearthed at Glastonbury Abbey, their size and placement ignite a dangerous question: could they be the remains of King Arthur and Guinevere? For King Henry II, proof of Arthur’s death is a political necessity, a way to crush Welsh hopes of a returning saviour. Adelia, trained in forensic medicine and reason, is summoned to strip myth from bone and deliver certainty where belief has long ruled.
Her investigation draws her into a web of clerical secrecy, royal ambition and lethal resistance, as others work to ensure the truth is never known. Readers who enjoy historical fiction rooted in medieval life, intellectual inquiry and moral risk will find the novel’s atmosphere tense and reflective. It suits those seeking secondhand books that balance scholarship with human stakes and show how history is shaped as much by fear as by fact.
