The fourth anniversary of the transfer of Saint Winifred's bones to the Abbey at Shrewsbury is a time of celebration for the 12th-century pilgrims gathering from far and wide. In distant Winchester, however, a knight has been murdered. Could it be because he was a supporter of the Empress Maud, one of numerous pretenders to the throne? It's up to herbalist, sleuth, and Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael to track down the killer in the pious throng.
The knocker hung on a very special door - oak, heavy, with a late-Gothic arch, and apparently a late-Gothic curse. Then the door was moved from an old house, once an abbey, to the village church. Legend held that sinners who seized the knocker had their hands burned by the cold iron. But Gerry Bracewell didn't die of burns, neither did a second victim. Had they knocked on death's door, or was a more down-to-earth killer at large? Detective Chief Inspector George Felse, returning from a weekend in Wales, had passed through the village of Mottisham and watched the ceremony enacted to re-dedicate the door. Little did he know that soon he would be called back to investigate murder...
Auf dem Felsen von Parfois soll Burgherr Isambard nicht mehr lange residieren. Als selbst sein Sohn gegen ihn intrigiert, steht ihm ausgerechnet sein Gefangener, der Baumeister Harry Talvace, zur Seite. Zu spät erkennt Isambard, wer seine wahren Freunde sind. Und die Tage der unglücklichen Benedetta sind gezählt. Mit dem dritten Band der großen Mittelalter-Trilogie über den Baumeister Harry Talvace krönt Edith Pargeter das Glanzstück ihres Schaffens und liefert das eindrucksvolle und lebendige Bild einer sagenumwobenen Zeit.