''Beautifully written ... a unique tale told in a unique voice'' - S.G. MacleanSummer, 1522. In a wave of pomp, Henry VIII-s court welcomes the Imperial emperor, Charles V. Anthony Blanke, the son of the king-s late -black trumpet-, John Blanke, is called to Hampton Court by his former employer, Cardinal Wolsey. The cardinal is preparing a gift for King Henry: a masque of King Arthur and the Black Knight. Anthony is to take centre stage.The festive mood, however, quickly sours. Wolsey-s historian, charged with proving the king-s descent from King Arthur, is found murdered, his body posed in a gruesome tableau. A reluctant Anthony is charged with investigating the affair. His mission takes him on the path trod by the historian, through ancient monastic libraries and the back streets of London.On a journey that takes him from Hampton Court to Windsor and Winchester, and which sees him lock horns with secretive monks, historian Polydore Vergil, and a new face at court, Anne Boleyn, he mus
