The Pendragon Murders — J.M.C. Blair

Throughout Camelot, he is whispered to be a magician, a sorcerer, a wizard. But Merlin is merely a scholar, a practitioner of medicine, and King Arthur's trusted advisor. Though he possesses no otherworldly abilities, his keen intellect grants him certain powers of deduction...

Death stalks the English countryside. Plague has ravaged the port city of Dover. A Baron and his sons have been found dead, bound to an altar stone at Stonehenge. It falls to Merlin to bear these grim tidings to his liege.

Convinced that the supposedly magical Stone of Bran is responsible for the plague, the king leads an expedition to return the rock to its original ground. With him ride Merlin, several of Camelot's less-scrupulous barons -- and more than a few of his bastard sons, one of whom, Arthur hopes, will demonstrate that he is worthy of the throne.

But when the potential heirs begin dying -- supposedly of the plague -- Merlin suspects their deaths have less to do with the disease and more to do with the Stonehenge murders. Proving that, however, will be difficult, dangerous -- and deadly.