I was kind of ambivalent about the first book in this much praised series (also reviewed on Myshelf, although not by me). I liked it rather than loved it: the sort of book I would keep picking up and putting down until I finally did finish, glad to have read it to know what the buzz was about, but not exactly yearning for more. I gave the second book in the series a pass since the storyline didn’t grab me, but thought Grave Goods, the third, sounded much more interesting. An understatement as it turned out. This was a compelling, compulsive, gotta stay up late at night to finish read.

After a fire destroys Glastonbury Abbey, the skeletal remains of a large man and a small woman are uncovered. Could they be King Arthur and his queen, Guinevere?  King Henry II certainly hopes so. He’s having trouble in Wales, with the Welsh rallying in the name of Arthur, whose legend says he is not dead but sleeping, and will rise again to lead them. Henry would love to have evidence of an Arthur long past any hope of rising again "...shown to every bloody Celt from here to Brittany... I want Arthur’s bones and I want them on display." Well he has bones, and they were found where legend says they should be, but how does he convince people they are Arthur’s? That’s where Adelia, his Mistress of the Art of Death, comes in...

That’s also just the beginning of the rich, multi-threaded story packed in here. Adelia has problems of her own before she even reaches Glastonbury (where the situation is far from simple), with plenty of new ones waiting for her there. The author does a lovely job of giving the reader a "you are there" feel for her long ago settings, situations and people, while telling a story that rarely pauses for breath. There are several different puzzles to be solved, most of which stayed puzzles until the satisfying ending.  All of which is built on a nicely blended mixture of fiction and fact. There was in fact a 12th C fire which destroyed Glastonbury Abbey, with bones believed to be Arthur’s discovered during the subsequent restoration.

Recommended.