King Arthur's Bones

The Medieval Murderers #5

by The Medieval Murderers

During excavation work at Glastonbury Abbey in the year 1191, an ancient leaden cross is discovered buried several feet below the ground. Inscribed on it are the words Hic iacet sepultus inclitus rex arturius: Here lies buried the renowned King Arthur. Beneath the cross are two skeletons. Could these really be the remains of the legendary King Arthur and his queen, Guinevere? As the monks debate the implications of this extraordinary discovery, the bones are spirited away by the mysterious Guardians, a group determined to keep King Arthur's remains safe until the legend is fulfilled and he returns to protect his country in the hour of its greatest need. As the secret of the bones' hiding place is passed from generation to generation, those entrusted to safeguard the king's remains must withstand treachery, theft, blackmail, and murder in order to keep the legend intact.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, Historical Mystery, Arthurian, Medieval

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

A pseudonym used for collaborative works by the following:

Simon Beaufort,
Philip Gooden,
Susanna Gregory,
Michael Jecks,
Bernard Knight,
Karen Maitland,
Ian Morson, and
C.J. Sansom.

Reviews

[Ice Bear · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wanders through a tale of bones, whose bones is never really discovered. Connections aplenty to previous books and characters as well as within the short stories. However the ends to some of the narratives was like a jumpy flickering film reel, and bits like the bones seemed to be missing. As they say in a school report - could do better.

[Jane Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's brave of writers to contribute to a book like this where their work is directly comparable to that of others. And one writer in this group of 5 is clearly inferior to the others. But although the idea for the book was good, the finished product is disappointing, and I gave up on the last chapter out of boredom.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another in a series mostly set in medieval times. There are five acts, a prologue and an epilogue, each on the same theme down the ages. We begin in Glastonbury, and place and cathedral, that I personally have visited. The year is 1191, in the reign of Richard the Lionheart. Work is being done at the cathedral, and they have discovered a cross embedded in stone with King Arthur's name on it. The inscription reads, "Here lies buried the renowned King Arthur in the Isle of Avalon." But how could this be? Arthur is supposed to be asleep and waiting to be awoken in time of need for the English people. If the bones are true, what is to be done with them? So begins the saga.

Act One. It is five years later, and the bones have been spirited away to Wales, but their protector, Meurig ap Rhys, is dying and the bones missing. Who next will protect Arthur's bones? Lady Gwenllian, married to a Norman lord and sister to Meurig, is determined to find them. It's a tangled web of deceit and murder but the Lady is up to the twists and turns she encounters.

Act Two. The year is 1282, and King Edward I is fighting in Wales to subdue the country and force it to his will. Prince Dafydd is holding out in the north, but Llewelyn has been ambushed and killed. Hywel ap Gruffydd is dying, but before he dies, he tells his son Owain the secret of King Arthur's bones and what must be done. Owain is the great-grandson of Meurig ap Rhys. Meurig had set up the Guardians to protect the bones for the Welsh people. But Owain is accused of murdering his elder brother and takes official sanctuary and agrees to abjure the realm. But what then becomes of the bones he swore to protect?

Act Three. It is 1321, and King Edward II is on the throne. Brother Iestyn of Abbey Dore knew exactly where the bones were hidden. His grandfather had placed them there. But the hiding place was crumbling, and repairs were set to be made. Iestyn must move them. He hands the over to Huw ap Madoc, a Guardian. Three years later, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill breaks up a scuffle between a Pardoner, John, and a prominent townswoman. By chance, Huw was with John disguised as a potion seller. He is accused of the murder. Now, Sir Baldwin, his friend Simon Puttock, and Sir Richard de Welles, King's Coroner, must sort out the mess.

Act Four. We next jump to 1606, with King James I on the throne. Nick Revill is at the Tower of London, where his friend has been accused of murder though he swears he didn't do it. It all started when William Shakespeare decided to write a play about King Arthur to please the King. On his desk was a human bone said to be Arthur's and given to him by his youngest brother Edmund. A rival, Martin Barton decides to also write a play about Arthur and to get the rest of his bones to show up Shakespeare. After several adventures, Nick has the bones, but not for long!

Act Five. We now jump to 1818 during Prince George's Regency. Joe Malinferno is in possession of a box of bones, given to him by his friend Augustus Bromhead, for safe keeping. Joe wasn't interested in them because they weren't from Egypt, and he was an Egyptologist, so he sent them back to his friend. When Joe goes to Bromhead's rooms, he finds them a mess, and a man called Thomas Dale, hiding in the corner. Daley tells him Bromhead is missing and there are signs of a deadly struggle. Joe asks him where the bones are, but he has no idea. Meanwhile, a man in dark clothes is following Joe and taking notes.

Epilogue, August 2004. The dig at Bermondsey Abbey is about to end. Soon, the land will hold a large, new development, and Bermondsey lost forever. But the metal detector was screaming at them. Something big was down there, and what they found was astonishing. Inside a 19th-century iron coffin, they found a much older box with bones. Carbon dating gave the date in the mid 6th century. Gwen, the expert from Cardiff University, asked if she could take them for more resting, and it was agreed. Gwen, newly divorced, had taken back her maiden name of Merrick - the modern form of the Welsh Meurig. As she crossed the bridge into Wales, a most remarkable thing happened.

So why did I give this only 3 stars? I did it because Act Four went on, and on, and on. I dislike the character and his motivations. I skimmed most of it. Otherwise, the book is wonderful.

[Jake 7words · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only read half, went to China instead

[Alex Bower · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book (or concept considering there are a few in the series) very much seems like it should work on paper. 5 popular authors coming together to write an anthology tracing the movements of king Arthur’s bones.

In reality it’s more like a game of telephone where a garbled recollection of events is passed to the next author. The stories get weaker and more tenuously linked back to the original concept with each new act. The authors all seem to be focused more on an ego trip of putting their characters in the book and then shoehorning in Arthur as an afterthought (Act 4 - Goodens contribution based in Shakespeare’s London is the most jaw clenching example). The very last paragraph of the epilogue made my eyes roll audibly.

I would only really recommend this if you were a fan of any of the individual authors work.

The individual acts were enjoyable enough I suppose but some more cohesion to bring some pay off would have been nice and upped the star ranking.

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

King Arthur's Bones is one of a series of collaborative novels by this group of writers. Some of them are better than others. There's some decent research going on, particularly in the first couple of pieces, and some of the historical notes are interesting. They peter out, though, which is kind of disappointing. I'd hoped for something well-researched the whole way through, with enough references that if one followed up, the interpretation of events might fit the facts.

As stories, whether accurate or not, they're okay. 'Act One' bothered me, starting as it did in one POV for a tiny section and then skipping on to a different one for the rest of it. It could easily have been framed entirely in that POV, and it felt clunky. There were similar other things that just displayed lazy or bad writing, and the lack of a good editor.

[Robbin Golden · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a good story with a disjointed delivery.

[Mark Higginbottom · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fifth one in this series featuring stories written by various historical fiction authors that all have a connecting theme running through them.The authors are Phillip Gooden,Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight,Michael Jecks and Ian Morson.This particular novel revolves around the finding of or hiding of King Arthur's bones.I find when I begin these books that almost instantly I just cannot put them down,they are written so well and the authors know their subject so damn good.I do have many of the books written by these individual authors and I have to say their own individual books are in the main just as good!I would definitely recommend them to anyone who has a passion for history especially Medieval.I cannot wait to pick up the next one in this series.Brilliant.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably closer to 3.5 stars. Very clever concept — five authors, who all write medieval mysteries, have combined together under the collective name of The Medieval Murderers to write this collection of linked novellas. The stories begin with the discovery of a large skeleton at Glastonbury Abbey — could it be King Arthur's Bones? But if it is, that means he died, like an ordinary man, and is not just sleeping to rise again when his country needs him. The stories that follow follow the travels of this skeleton through history. Some of the authors's stories feature their series' protagonists. Very enjoyable. I will be reading other collections by these collective authors.

[Al Ashcott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've finally finished this little book!
The book contains five stories, called ACTS, written by five different authors. All stories are interlinked because they tell the story of King Arthur's bones, of how they were discovered, stolen, retrieved, and stolen again throughout the centuries.
I started reading the book in May thinking it would take me a couple of days to finish it, however, the first three stories were quite boring and then I went on holiday and decided not to take the book with me on my trip.
ACT 4 about William Shakespeare was a little too far fetched. The last tale, ACT 5, was the most entertaining, perhaps because the story was set in the early 19th century.

Al

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am familiar with only one of the authors, Michael Jecks, but I do like stories about King Arthur, and felt that Jecks' collaboration with the Medieval Murderers meant this was a well-written story. I was not wrong. I loved it! I liked the familiarity of Baldwin and Simon, but I also loved how the corpse was taken through the centuries, the characters met along the way, how the corpse was hidden and discovered. This collaboration works and works well. I did not realize there were a series written by this group, but I will definitely be looking for the others.

[Leo · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. It was an clever idea to have multiple authors write a book the outcome could have been great, I've seen it done before. But sadly I didn't think it was done great. It was just an alright book

[Kally Sheng · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collaboration is not working! The stories were flat, uninteresting; a great disappointment and doesn't do the title justice!

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the beginning of this book but as it went on it seemed disjointed and disappointing . I don’t think the collaboration of authors worked in my opinion .

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed each of the stories, and the end wrap-up made me smile.

[Elysia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars for this one as 3/5 of the stories pretty good but the rest mind numbing. I'm sure some people will really enjoy this one but sadly not for me.

[Gerard de Bruin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hoofdzakelijk slecht geschreven en een afvalberg van genre-cliché's. Alleen het laatste hoofdstuk is behoorlijk qua stijl maar slaat eigenlijk in het kader van het verhaal nergens op.

[rabbitprincess · Rating 3 out of 5]

* * 1/2 that will likely be rounded up to three

I went back and forth on whether to award this book a two- or a three-star rating in the no-halvsies Goodreads rating system. In the end I went in favour of three, because I liked the book well enough and am sufficiently tempted to check out other books in the series. That being said, this book was not without its flaws, as shall be discussed below.

The premise is rather interesting to an Arthur buff like myself: a series of five interlinked mysteries focusing on the bones of King Arthur and the various calamities that befall those who attempt to steal them, or even those who hide his bones in preparation for that mythical uprising when he will return to aid his country in their hour of greatest need. Anyway, I figured the best way to approach these interlinked mysteries was to let the plot serve as my primary entertainment, in case the multiple voices proved distracting. This was at the outset, when I was not aware that the mysteries, while sharing characters at some points and of course Arthur's bones, do stand up as individual works, so it's not like they're supposed to be a seamless blend.

The first act was probably the best, considering it was the most directly relevant to Arthur's bones (that's when they were first discovered, at Glastonbury Abbey). I enjoyed the scene where the Abbey's scholar dug out all of these Arthurian references, such as Gildas and William of Malmesbury. I read excerpts from those fellas in a King Arthur class I took in university, so that brought back some happy memories. The writing was okay, although I raised an eyebrow at the part where the buzz of the crowd surrounding the excavation where the bones were found was compared to the sound of bees -- I don't think there were too many other buzzing things in the 1100s. It's not like the Benedictine monks had chainsaws or leaf blowers or other gadgets that buzz. But that's just me quibbling.

Act 2 was all right, certainly full of family intrigue and strong-willed female characters (always a plus in fiction set in this time period). At one point somewhere around here I became confused because two men died and they had the same first name but were several decades apart.

I think Act 3 was probably the weakest. I've tried a book by this author before and it was completely forgettable, so I am not surprised that it was my least favourite. It had its moments, but the dating system used for the section headings struck me as kind of pretentious because nobody else did it. Also he had to footnote it with the date in our standard format, so what was the point exactly? It didn't really help establish atmosphere; on the contrary, it was a distraction. And the author here had a habit of explaining things twice, like he'd introduce a character on page 1 and say "Mr. So and So was an undertaker, the best in London" and then perhaps 10 pages later or whenever the character next appeared he would say "Mr. So and So was the best undertaker in London." My theory is that the author nods off while he's writing, then wakes up and can't remember where he is in the story, so he sticks in the explanation again. I think better editing would help eliminate such repetition.

Act 4 was okay character-wise, because it involved Shakespeare, who is great, and of course anything involving the animals in the Tower is bound to have some fun. But I found that one had the least amount of relevance to the Arthur's bones story. It seemed to be more like "Hey, here's Shakespeare and King Arthur's bones in the same story! That's cool enough, right?" I did like the idea of WS writing a play about Arthur (but then abandoning it because of his brush with the bones), but other than that the story was merely okay.

Act 5, set in the early 1800s, started out a bit slow but turned out slightly more interesting by the end, once again helped by a strong-willed female character (the part where she grabs the body-snatcher's privates and refuses to let go until he's given them what they need to know was somewhat amusing, and certainly that part was very descriptive).

And the epilogue... fell kind of flat. Also the part where the Welsh archaeologist is taking the bones back to her lab (and it's revealed she's a descendant of the Guardians who have been trying to keep the bones safe lo these many centuries) and then King Arthur and his men are sleeping in a cave nearby, then Arthur smiles and goes back to sleep, nearly made me yell "OH COME ON." Not that I am opposed to the thought of Arthur sleeping in a cave, but it felt kind of silly when she supposedly has a good portion of his bones in a box in her car.

In short, this is supposed to be a light read, so don't treat it any more seriously than you have to. If you like Arthur, if you like any of these authors, you'll probably enjoy this book.

[Alison C · Rating 4 out of 5]

King Arthur's Bones is the fifth in a series of shared-world books by some of England's best-known historical mystery writers - Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Ian Morson, Michael Jecks and Philip Gooden - who collectively call themselves The Medieval Murderers. Each book takes one object and sends it through time, from the 12th Century to the present, and each writer has one of his or her series characters from their various historical mysteries come into contact with the object, with the final "epilogue" being set in the present day. In this case, as is obvious from the title, the article in question is a partial skeleton, believed to be that of King Arthur. Since the legend says that Arthur has not died, but is only sleeping, it becomes important that these bones be concealed but not lost, for who's to say whether he might not be resurrected from the bones themselves in the time of Britain's greatest need? As always, the five stories vary in tone and strength, and each reader might like different stories; for what it's worth, my favourites were Bernard Knight's tale set in 1282 Wales, war-torn from the English invasions, and Philip Gooden's story set in Shakespeare's time and featuring Nick Revill, Gooden's "player" in Shakespeare's theatrical company. The Epilogue is nicely done too, with the bones being restored to their proper land....This group of authors has definitely concocted a fun series of unrelated books, and while I didn't find this as gripping as The Tainted Relic or The Lost Prophecies, it's certainly well worth reading, especially if you enjoy historical - and historically accurate - mysteries. Recommended.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

mp3

Writers:

Philip Gooden,
Susanna Gregory,
Michael Jecks,
Bernard Knight,
Ian Morson,
C J Sansom.

Narrator: Paul Matthews
Duration: 14:14

Synopsis: 1191. During excavation work at Glastonbury Abbey, an ancient cross is discovered buried several feet below the ground. Inscribed on it are the words: Here lies buried the renowned King Arthur. Beneath the cross are skeletal remains. Could this really be the legendary King Arthur? As the secret of the bones' hiding place is passed from generation to generation, those entrusted to safeguard the king's remains must withstand treachery, blackmail and murder in order to keep the legend intact.

This maybe my last MM - I have sort of lost enthusiasm for this multi-authored genre and this was particularly unedifying. When you come to the end of a lollipop...

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old legend proclaims that Arthur is alive but sleeping in a cave to be awakened if Wales is threatened. When King Arthur's bones are found in 1191 as work is being done at Glastonbury Abbey a Welsh monk is alarmed that the bones might be given to the English monarch, an enemy of Wales. He contacts a patriot and with a band called 'The Guardians' the real bones are replaced with other old bones and then smuggled out of Glastonbury to be hidden until Arthur is needed.

The story is told in parts by members of the Medieval Murderers group and while each part is separate the unifying theme is the role of Arthur's memory and of its protection of Wales. The story spans the centuries from medieval times to the 21st century with stops in Shakespere's London and the Napoleonic Wars.

No sex
No violence

[Angie Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have now read and enjoyed a good number of this series and this is, in many ways, another enjoyable contribution. Suzanna Gregory's chapter was probably my favourite: I liked the strong intelligent Gwenllian and would welcome more stories about her. By contrast, Ian Morson's Napoleonic tale was less engaging though it did also have a pleasingly strong, likeable and intelligent female character in Doll. The ending was generally satisfying and overall, I found the tales connected well. I look forward to the next Medieval Murderers collaboration.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with any kind of anthology, some entries are better than others, but on the whole any book that combines King Arthur and historical mysteries (especially medieval mysteries) can't be all bad! I enjoyed the first couple of stories best, with the discovery of what may or may not have been King Arthur's bones buried on the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, and the events pertaining to the Guardians -- the men who swore to hide and protect Arthur's remains until the once and future king is needed once more.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book,each chapter has a different flavour,like a bag of coloured sweets, tracing the the bones to their different whereabouts, a rider is added to each story, telling us about the basis of truth to the tale.

The book then is,apart from being about king Arthur's bones, also the filling and dressing of the bones of the tales. Exciting and sometimes intriguing,a very colourful and interesting book.

[Georgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a different book since there are seven sections, written by 5 different authors. Each section is a progression in years from 1191 until 2004. I really enjoyed some of the authors, but two of them didn't flow into the whole story as well as the other three. All in all, I will probably read one of the other books in this "series".

[Pauline B · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5-3 stars.
The 3 first acts were quite interesting, but the last 2 were just boring and I ended up not caring at all for the end.
There was no connection between the first 3 and the last 2 acts and didn't know why I kept on reading it.

[Soumya Sreehari · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book I have read from The Medieval Murderers. The story-telling is interesting. I found the idea of one thread spreading over centuries intriguing. The stories are engaging. The crime solving process is contextual. I liked the journey of reading the book.

[Vickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to see what a group of authors can come with and not be an anthology, but a seamless story.

[Jeffrey]

Each chapter, or act, is written by a different author. So far my favorite has been Act I, but I've only read 2 acts.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The individual stories blended into one except the Shakespeare act that was only loosely connected, but didn't spoilt the book