Read Chapter One

"Authentic period detail and fast-paced plot." --Booklist

She was young-barely fifteen. A poor peddler's daughter newly arrived in London, she was loved as much for her good heart as for her good looks. Someone had taken advantage of that sweet nature, leaving her dead in a churchyard, a ripped bodice testimony to her struggle, a bloodstained cross the solitary witness to her end.

England, 1193: A land awash in intrigue. While Eleanor of Aquitaine searches vainly for her eldest son, imprisoned by his enemies, her youngest plots to capture the crown. In her service: young Justin de Quincy, the Queen's Man. What has he to do with common murder, with the death of a poor man's child? Despite himself, Justin becomes ensnared in the case, seeking to unmask a killer. But can he also bring that killer to justice?

Hailed "an impressive debut" (Houston Chronicle), nominated for an Edgar for Best First Mystery, chosen by the ALA as a Best Book for Young Adults: The Queen's Man established a tradition that Cruel as the Grave upholds splendidly.