Lucifer's Crown — Lillian Stewart Carl

First print-published by Five Star/Gale in 2003

When Maggie Sinclair walks into myth-haunted Glastonbury Abbey she intends only to teach a group of students the stories of King Arthur. But she can't escape her mid-life crisis, which soon leads her to answer a spiritual call
to arms that will change her world forever.

Maggie's student Rose Kildare is looking for romance and adventure. What she finds is murder and a crisis of faith. In searching for his missing father,a young Scot named Mick Dewar finds not only Rose but his family's long-lost
identity. And Ellen Sparrow thinks she's already found certainty but instead loses almost everything.

Over them all looms Robin Fitzroy. In the eleventh century he was Robert the Devil, father of William the Conqueror. Now immortal, secure in his pride,he serves Lucifer himself. Only Thomas Becket, the great English saint,knows who Robin really is. Thomas let another man be martyred in his place in 1170. Since then he's lived as a humble scholar, seeking redemption for
his sin. But now, at the end of time, he discovers that it's up to him to save the souls of mankind from Robin's clutches. He risks making allies of Maggie, Rose, and Mick, even as he wonders whether not only his scholarship
but also his character is strong enough to meet the challenge.

Although Lucifer's Crown begins with a murder and hinges on another, it's more than a mystery. It's a contemporary version of the quest for the Holy Grail and its secrets. Fantasy elements influence two very different romances. History and mythology color political issues straight out of today's headlines. And the battle of good and evil is fought by a tarnished saint, a polished devil, and a few ordinary people who learn that this struggle is fought not by armies, but in each and every human heart.