Description:

**Religious strife, Glastonbury legends, the bones of King Arthur and the curse of the Tudors... can astrologer John Dee help the young Queen Elizabeth to avoid it?** * * * ****It is 1560, and Elizabeth Tudor has been on the throne for a year. Dr John Dee, at 32 already acclaimed throughout Europe, is her astrologer and consultant in the hidden arts... a controversial appointment in these days of superstition and religious strife. Now the mild, bookish Dee has been sent to Glastonbury to find the missing bones of King Arthur, whose legacy was always so important to the Tudor line. With him - hardly the safest companion - is his friend and former student, Robert Dudley, a risk-taker, a wild card... and possibly the Queen's secret lover. The famously mystical town is still mourning the gruesome execution of its Abbot, Richard Whiting. But why was the Abbot really killed? What is the secret held by the monks since the Abbey was founded by Joseph of Arimathea, uncle of Christ and guardian of the Holy Grail? The mission takes Dee to the tangled roots of English magic, into unexpected violence, necromantic darkness, the breathless stirring of first love... and the cold heart of a complex plot against Elizabeth. ### Review "* 'Rickman is an excellent writer, terrific on atmosphere' - The Times * 'We don't praise our home-grown thriller writers enough, it's high time we praised Phil Rickman' - Daily Mail" ### Review Praise for *The Bones of Avalon* "Phil Rickman is one of my all-time favorites…. He's done it again, with his usual sense of permeating atmosphere, with vivid characters in a complex plot that grows through the bones of history like a deadly nightshade."** --**Diana Gabaldon, #1 *New York Times* bestselling author of *An Echo in the Bone *"With his supernatural touch, a terrifying plot involving a necromancer, Glastonbury, King Arthur’s bones, and superb research, Phil Rickman takes us back brilliantly into the dark world of the first Elizabethans." --Ariana Franklin, national bestselling author of *A Murderous Procession *“Shadowed with his hallmark eeriness and full of richly drawn landscapes and fascinating characters, *The Bones of Avalon* is just the sort of uncanny, page-turning wonder that I’ve come to expect from Phil Rickman. What’s new is the magnificent sweep of Elizabethan England and tantalizing legends of King Arthur. A glorious read.” --Jennifer Lee Carrell, international bestselling author of *Interred with Their Bones* “For those of us waiting with bated breath for the next installment in C.J. Sansom's marvelous Matthew Shardlake murder mysteries set in Tudor England, heed my words: Phil Rickman and his John Dee have arrived! … The novel chills, thrills and satisfies, providing good history, great plot, and fascinating characters. Pull up a chair, turn off the phone, and settle in for a most delectable read… *The Bones of Avalon* is a fabulous read and John Dee is a marvelous addition to the world of Tudor intrigue.” –HuffingtonPost.com “A historical thriller with a touch of romance and more than a hint of necromancy… Brilliantly imagined and grippingly executed.” --*The Times *(London) “In this compelling and historically convincing novel, [Rickman] recreates a world of religious and political uncertainty where one man’s science is another man’s witchcraft, and where the mundane and the mystical rub shoulders… An assured and compelling opening to a new historical series.” –*The Spectator* "Rickman, who’s wending his way through Welsh history, myth and mores (the Merrily Watkins series), revisits many of the real-life characters he wrote of in *The Chalice* (1997, etc.) with admirable scholarship and verve, making a John Dee sequel something to look forward to." --*Kirkus* “This wonderful stand alone immediately draws the reader into danger and mystery, focused on Dr. John Dee, astrologer to Elizabeth I.  If readers are lucky, this will turn into a series featuring one of the most fascinating historical figures of the period.” –*RT Book Reviews*, 4 ½ stars, Top Pick “An immaculate Elizabethan mystery, beautifully written, cunningly contrived. John Dee himself could not have conjured up anything finer.” –Michael Gregorio, author of *Critique of Criminal Reason* “Phil Rickman's *The Bones of Avalon* is a treasure chest that, once opened, transports the reader back in time to one of our planet's most perilous eras… With its numerous descriptions of Medieval barbarism, savagery and hardship, *The Bones of Avalon* is a most enthralling read that engrossed me from cover to cover. It was as though a spell had been cast over me, forcing me to keep reading…. An epic journey of Medieval adventure and horror. Every fan of historical mysteries needs to embark on it. It has a twisting, suspenseful plot with numerous shocks.” --gumshoereview.com