King John's Jewels

In AD1215, Gervase Pitt inadvertently becomes involved in affairs of state when he's called upon to attend Runnymede to witness sealing of the Great Charter (later known as Magna Carta). Thinking he isn't directly affected, he's concerned to discover he must investigate the death of a rebel baron's retainer at Windsor, later that day.

Unable immediately to resolve matters, he finds himself increasingly tied up in events which will lead to the killing of a close friend ... and the circumstances leading up to King John's death, 16 months later. Events which threaten to cost him his own life, too.

Extract:
Apparently free of pursuit, Gervase drove his horses as quickly as the terrain permitted away from the scene of the ambush.
'Can't we help Guy and the others somehow?' asked Tommy.
Gervase had already considered this. Guy was more than a close friend. He'd given remarkable service to the family over more than a decade. But the Welshman would never forgive him if he abandoned his duty just to save him. It wasn't the Templar way and Gervase, though not a military sergeant, understood the code by which the Order lived. Duty first, friends second, self last.
'No. Our duty is clear. We've undertaken a task and must see it through.'
To their right, the river flowed relentlessly in the opposite direction to them, serenely heading towards the sea which would eventually wash away any evidence of human activity.

King John's Jewels is based on true events and follows many of the favourite characters from the Pitt Family Saga as they try to help keep England from descending further into civil war.

Stephen has been writing professionally for 25 years, but only started on fiction in 2013, with a science fiction trilogy. Since then, he has written a series of historical mystery novels featuring the Pitt Family. Set in the first decades of the 13th century, they follow the adventures of an ordinary family who become embroiled with the Knights Templar. This is the eighth story, with at least two more planned.

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