Athelstan queda en medio de una intriga de Juan de Gante y los escoses, en el medio un asesino serial que despelleja a las víctimas, todo ello mezclado con intrigas y mas intrigas y como siempre un crimen en una habitación cerrada (o en este caso dos) ( )

1381 A murderer named as The Flayer is plaguing the city, killing streetwalkers, ten so far is known. Meanwhile at Westminster Abbey a Monk have died during fast day, poisoned. But he will only be the first.
Prior Austin of Melrose Abbey has come to chronicle The Great Revolt and St. Erconwald's's role in the event, while staying at the Piebald Inn but death follows the proceeding.
Brother Athelston and coroner Sir John Cranston are busy investigating the deaths.
Another entertaining and well-written historical mystery with its main likeable characters. A good addition to the series which can easily be read as a standalone story
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

The Brother Athelstan mystery series is well-established, with a cast of characters its regular readers have grown to love and which new readers can quickly find delightful company. One of the series' strengths—and a strength of this particular volume—is that it focuses not on the nobility, as so many historical mysteries do, but instead is grounded in day-to-day life. There are palace-level intrigues underlying the action, but what readers experience is the struggles of ordinary characters trying to balance hardship with merriment (or some chaotic version of it) and fighting for a future when they might have greater control over their own lives.

This volume in the series involves a series of overlapping plot lines: a Scottish attempt to retrieve the Stone of Destiny on which Scottish kings used to be crowned, a series of poisonings in Westminster Abbey, a pair of killings in a local inn, and serial killer attacking the lowest prostitutes in the poorest neighborhoods of London. These threads, which at first seem separate, gradually draw together, making for gripping reading.

Whether you're familiar with Brother Athelastan and his cohorts or meeting them for the first time, you'll find The Stone of Destiny rewarding reading. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own. ( )

Brilliant, macabre and satisfying.

Only Doherty could bring together in 1381 the Stone of Scone of Scotland, happenings from the Great Pestlance, horrific deaths of women from the lowest stratas of society, and tie it all together forming a conundrum that slinks into our favourite Parish, St Erconwald’s of Southwark. And of course right into the lap of our well loved cleric and sleuth, Dominican friar Brother Athelstan, working of course with Sir John Cranston, Lord High Coroner of the city.
Not only this but death raises its head in Westminster Abbey. A sacristan dies in extreme agony. And that's just the beginning. There's also a visit from Austin Sinclair, Prior of Melrose Abbey in Scotland come amongst other things to study the Great Revolt. He wants to hear the stories from Athelstan's parishioners.
Naturally there are complications coming from every direction, many threads are intertwining to give us once more a medieval murder mystery that reaches politically into interesting places. Many things are as Gollum would say “wicked, tricksy and false!”
The killer is labeled the Flayer and that moniker brings a shudder to the soul. How the killings fit with St Erconwald’s parishioners is fascinating. And their recent past pushes into the present.
Another fabulous contribution to the Athelstan series!

A Severn House ARC via NetGalley ( )