A Fine Target

Catherine LeVendeur, a young scholar in 12th-century France, has come to conquer her sins at the Convent of the Paraclete: famous for learning, prayer and its abbess, the fabled Heloise.When a manuscript the convent produced for the great Abbe Suger disappears, rumours surface that the book contains sacrilegious passages and will be used to condemn Heloise's famous lover, Peter Abelard.To save the convent and protect all she holds dear, Catherine must find the manuscript and discover who altered the text. Risking her life, and the wrath of Church and family, she confronts an evil older than Time itself . . .

The young French scholar, Catherine LeVendeur, is rather pleased to see off her estranged younger sister, Agnes, through marriage to a German lord. Bitter about their religious differences, Agnes wants nothing to do with Catherine and happily sets off with her sizeable dowry and two knights in escort.But soon one of the escorts returns with terrible news: Agnes' new husband appears to have been murdered, and Agnes is the prime suspect - accused of murder by poisoning, or worse, witchcraft.In spite of their differences, Catherine believes in Agnes' innocence, and pledges to do everything she can to save her sister. But when Catherine and her family travel to Germany to begin investigating, amongst a dangerously volatile religious climate, it becomes clear that their long-dreamt-of peaceful life remains in the distant future - if they live to see it.

Adjusting to her role as a new mother, the young Catherine LeVendeur is looking forward to life at home in Paris. But when her nobleman husband, Edgar, learns that two of his brothers have been murdered, her peace is shattered. Honour dictates that he must return to Scotland to avenge their deaths and, despite what awaits them in his war-torn homeland, Catherine and the baby accompany him.Reaching Scotland, Catherine is shocked by Edgar's tyrannical father, and the cold secrecy of the rest of his family. As soon as Edgar is away from home, the family expel Catherine from their care, leaving her seeking refuge in a strange country ravaged by civil war. Searching desperately for her husband, she knows it is far more important to discover who despises Edgar's family so much that they would try to destroy its whole lineage - including her infant son.

As a former novice of the Convent of the Paraclete, the young Catherine LeVendeur's life has been filled with adventure and intrigue. When she fell in love with her Saxon nobleman, Edgar, it was hoped that married life would settle this headstrong woman. But fate will have its way and, after suffering several miscarriages, Catherine is inspired by a prophetic dream that she and Edgar must embark on a pilgrimage to the fabled monastery of Compostela, to petition for a child.During their journey Catherine and Edgar encounter mad monks, bawdy crusaders, and a motley collection of pilgrims whose past deeds bind them all in a bizarre game of chance. When several pilgrims are gruesomely murdered, the trail of evidence points to an old and blackening sin, and a hidden villain whose quest for revenge may lead to Catherine's untimely death . . .

In 12th-century France, the power of the religious relic is unsurpassed. Suffused with enormous power, a dangerous and violent trade has grown up around them. Despite mourning for their first child, the young ex-novice Catherine LeVendeur and her English husband Edgar are drawn into this perilous world when Edgar agrees to pose as a craftsman in order to infiltrate one if the rings.The future of Catherine's relatives is also at stake: Jews surviving on the tolerance of King Louis VII. Their fragile existence is shattered when a man is murdered, and a deeply important relic - the arm of Saint Aldhelm of England - is stolen.