The Skin Map

Stephen R. Lawhead

Lion Fiction

Mel Starr's latest novel is a thoroughly enjoyable medieval crime mystery. It may be enjoyed as complete in itself, or as part of the Hugh de Singleton series.\nWhen Hugh and Kate's new-born son is taken to the church to be baptized, they are astounded to find that the locked font is completely dry. The possibility of a leak is quickly ruled out, and just as Hugh is beginning to wonder if there may be a sinister explanation for the stolen holy water, Fr Robert is found lying motionless by the rood screen in a pool of blood...\nMeanwhile, parliament has passed a poll tax, stipulating everyone above the age of 14 is to be taxed equally. Folk are soon scrambling to find the money to pay and, inevitably, unscrupulous elements in society see an opportunity to feed off people's desperation and make some cash... But what connection can there possibly between this and events at Bampton?

A Polluted Font: The Chronicles of Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon, Book 16 (The Chronicles of Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon, 16)

Literature & Fiction

Starr, Mel

Genre Fiction

The Revd Neil Fisher arrives in St Stephen's Dunbridge, to take up his first curacy under the formidable Revd Margaret Prowse. Shy, gauche, earnest, kind and determined, he learns the ropes as he meets the many colourful characters who form the congregation. After a family tragedy rocks his boss, Neil finds himself in the deep end. This is a charming mix of stories, comical and moving by turns, around a central core of familiar characters, situations and storylines. One such storyline will be the on/off romance between Neil and Ros, the spiky single mum who looks after the vicarage garden. Another will be the determination of Wendy, leader of the church music group, to bag a vicar for her husband. A third will be the apparently unbalanced partnership between Margaret Prowse and her underdog husband, Frank. The book combines social comedy with spiritual resonance and depth.

Fisher of Men (The Dunbridge Chronicles, 1)

Rhodes, Pam

Contemporary

Within a period of weeks, three horrific bomb blasts devastate areas of London, Los Angeles, and Sydney. No explanation is offered, no victory claimed for these acts of terror. Yet behind the scenes a Machiavellian European businessman, aided by the dark forces to whom he has sold his soul, is planning to bring the richest nations to their knees for his own evil purposes.

Angelguard: Not all the spirits are good (Angelguard Trilogy)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Acheson, Ian

Thrillers & Suspense

Felicity's ecstatic enjoyment of her fellow ordinands' singing in Ascension Morn from the top of Pusey Tower at the College of the Transfiguration is shattered when a black-robed body hurtles over the precipice and rolls to a stop at her feet. Father Antony recognizes the corpse as Hwyl Pendry, a former student of his, who has been serving as Deliverance Minister in the diocese of St. David's. The police ignore the strange emblem of a double-headed snake curling across a triangle Hwyl clutched in his hand and label the death a suicide. But Hwyl's widow is convinced otherwise, and pleads for Felicity and Antony to help her uncover the truth. Matters grow murkier as Felicity and Antony, leading a youth pilgrimage through rural Wales, encounter the same sinister symbol of a double-headed snake on their travels. Lurking figures follow the group. Then one of the young people is found face-down in a well ...

An Unholy Communion (The Monastery Murders)

Crow, Donna Fletcher

Faith Morgan, former policewoman and vicar of Little Worthy, visits Oliver Markham's farm in the run up to Christmas, only to discover the house surrounded by police cars. A body has been found in the local River Itchen, which turns out to be that of Lucas Kemp, a local boy and chorister. Markham is charged with his murder. Through her connections with Winchester Cathedral Faith is drawn into the investigation, discovering that Lucas had dropped out of college and that his mother had died a few months previously. There is a question of drugs, and a rivalry over Lucas's distraught girlfriend - the choir is a hotbed of tensions. Lucas's unsavoury uncle, and a local drug dealer, both come under suspicion, and Ben, Faith's police inspector ex-boyfriend, has to rescue her when the drug dealer turns nasty. But the actual murderer is none of the above ...

The Advent of Murder (A Faith Morgan Mystery)

Ockley, Martha

Mystery

Master Hugh is asked to provide a sleeping potion for Sir Henry Burley, a friend and guest of Lord Gilbert at Bampton Castle. Sir Henry, (with his wife, a daughter by a first wife, two knights, two squires, and assorted servants), has outstayed his welcome at Bampton Castle. The next morning after Master Hugh provides the potion, Sir Henry is found dead, eyes open, in his bed. Master Hugh, the target of the wife's wrath, is asked by Lord Gilbert to determine the cause of death . . .

Rest Not in Peace (Chronicles of Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon)

United States

Kit Livingstone has been bequeathed by his great grandfather, Cosimo, an apparently impossible task: to piece together a 17th-century map whose fragments are scattered not just throughout this universe but other universes too. One piece of the skin map has been found. Now the race to unravel the future of the future turns deadly. Aided by his girlfriend, Mina, from her outpost in seventeenth-century Prague, Kit begins to make progress but realises that opponents, in the shape of the Burley Men, are equally determined to capture the map, and they have a crucial advantage: the ability to manipulate the will of historical figures for their own ends. Across time and space, through manifest and hidden worlds, those who know how to use ley lines to travel through astral planes have left their own world behind in this, the second quest: to unlock the mystery of The Bone House.

The Bone House (Bright Empires)

LAWHEAD, STEPHEN R.

Set in 17th century and 21st century London, the Enlightenment-era court of the Hapsburgs, China during the Qing Dynasty and ancient Egypt, Bright Empires is a five-volume fantasy. In The Skin Map, Kit Livingstone and his great- grandfather, Cosimo, are brought together to find a map originally tattooed on the skin of its author, a seventeenth-century explorer who had discovered the secret of access to other worlds and parallel universes. Malign forces are also after the map and, to the surprise of all, the map proves to be not the end of the quest but its beginning. A far greater prize remains, and a much more dangerous search will need to be undertaken.

The Skin Map: Bright Empires - 1

Religion & Spirituality

Lawhead, Stephen

Christian Books & Bibles

In his most powerful fantasy novel yet, Stephen Lawhead takes us into the future. Decadent and reprobate King Edward the Ninth dies and with him the British monarchy is extinguished. A new political order is coming into being. But in Scotland a distant scion of the Stuart line makes an astonishing discovery: that he is Arthur, king of ancient Britain re-born. Claiming a throne is one thing; holding it against an array of powerful forces, even with Merlin at your side, quite another. For the opposition is far more than political. Merlin's is not the only magic to have survived the centuries and Arthur not the only one to have been re-born.

Avalon

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Fantasy

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