The Scandal of the Skulls — Cassandra Clark

Murder and mayhem engulf Hildegard of Meaux and sexy abbot Hubert de Courcy in a seventh mystery as soon as they get back from Avignon. They arrive secretly on the English coast, in a storm, at dead of night. Why the secrecy? Because the duke of Gloucester, head of the King's Council in Westminster, is savagely condemning every single one of young King Richard's allies to death at The Merciless Parliament. Even his tutor, the nationally beloved Sir Simon Burley, is in the Tower awaiting execution. Outraged by Gloucester's cold ambition and diabolical cunning, Hildegard is willingly drawn into a plot to free Sir Simon by the ambiguous knight in grey. Meanwhile, an apprentice is found hanging from a rope in Salisbury Cathedral. Are both events linked and if so, how? Hildegard defies death to discover the truth.