Every year for the past five years a team of well-known UK writers of historical mysteries have collaborated on one of these compendium volumes. Each follows the history of an artefact that seems to bring death and disaster in a series of linked short stories. This time it is the bones of King Arthur, the "once and future king" of the Celts who is supposed to come forth from his slumber in the hour of Britain’s greatest need. But if these are his bones, surely he is dead? A group of Guardians are entrusted with the bones down the ages, and here is what happens whenever they surface.

As a child I used to love "holiday specials" and Christmas annuals, and I think of these books rather in the same vein. This time only two of the authors (Michael Jecks and Philip Gooden) have chosen to put their usual sleuths through their paces, the other three opting to write about something else. Much as I enjoy finding out what the likes of Crowner John and Matthew Bartholomew have been up, to this is a good plan, as it gives the reader a glimpse at what else these writers are capable of. Susanna Gregory tells a far more sober tale than her usual high jinks, Bernard Knight does introduce a coroner into his story about Wales but it is set in a different place and time to his series. Ian Morson is his usual inventive self, spinning a tale set in a Regency London full of archaeologists and body snatchers, which is perhaps the most memorable when the book is closed.