Catherine LeVendeur is a young scholar come to conquer her sin of pride at the Convent of the Paraclete, famous for learning, prayer, and its abbess, the fabled Heloise. When a manuscript the convent produced for the great Abbe Suger disappears, rumors surface saying the book contains sacrilegious passages and will be used to condemn Heloise's famous lover, Peter Abelard.To save her Order, and protect all she holds dear, Catherine must find the manuscript and discover who altered the text. She will risk disgrace, the wrath of her family and the Church, and confront an evil older than Time itself--and, if she isn't careful, lose her immortal soul.With Death Comes As Epiphany, the first in the Catherine LeVendeur mystery series, medievalist Sharan Newman has woven dark mystery and sparkling romance into a fascinating and richly detailed tapestry of everyday life in twelfth-century France, and one of the most moving love stories of all time: Abelard and Heloise.

The Outcast Dove is the ninth title in Sharan Newman's Catherine LeVendeur mystery series. In these well-researched novels filled with fascinating details of medieval life, Newman conveys the sounds, smells, and human concerns of twelfth-century France and creates characters who seem to have just stepped off the streets of medieval Paris.The threat to peace and safety this time is not focused on Catherine LeVendeur, the heroine whose curiosity and passion for justice have sometimes led her to solve some grisly murders and brave horrors...but on those she loves. Her family's fortune is in commerce, and while her husband, Edgar, is a capable trader, they must rely on her dearest cousin, Solomon, to negotiate the treacherous path to riches. And therein lies the danger, for the fact that Solomon is her cousin is secret. Catherine's father was abducted as a child and raised as a devout Catholic---but most of his family escaped and remained Jews. If their family connections are discovered, it could mean ruin to Catherine's family. Or death. As Edgar and Solomon travel to Spain to make their fortunes, Solomon is drawn into a scheme to try to rescue a Jewish girl take by Christians during the conquest of the Spanish city of Almeira. To complicate matters, and sorely vex his heart, Solomon encounters his long-lost father Jacob, a man who rejected his Jewish faith and is now Brother James, preparing his own trip to Spain to ransom Crusader knights taken by the Moslems. When a fellow monk is killed by an attacker in the street late at night, it's put down to a random mugging. But James, who is carrying the ransom money, believes that he will be the next target. Circumstances force him to turn for help to the son he abandoned. Solomon wants nothing to do with his father. But he's confronted by his past, his ancestry, the need for secrecy, and his love for those of his family who have chosen a different path.In confronting all these things, Solomon will come to a decision about who he is...and where he really belongs.

 

1140 Anno Domini:

A wealthy countess lies dying at the Convent of the Paraclete, brutally beaten by unknown assailants. Despite entreaties, she is unwilling to name her killer. Beautiful Catherine LeVendeur, the Paraclete's most learned young novice-scholar, vows to find out the identity of the woman's attacker.

When her beloved Edgar comes to lead her from the convent to a life of the flesh, Catherine is torn between her quest for justice and the pledge she made him. Catherine doesn't want to break any of the vows she's made-and if she abandons her crusade for the truth, others will die, and the convent she loves may be destroyed...

In Guinevere, Sharan Newman told us the story of that lovely and legendary woman's childhood up until her wedding night. Guinevere is now the beautiful young wife and queen of King Arthur, a position much-coveted by all women of Camelot. But nothing in life is ever certain, and soon Guinevere discovers--most alarmingly--her deep and passionate love for another man: Lancelot, the most beloved Knight of the Round Table in all of Camelot. Here Sharan Newman brings the legend of Lancelot and Guinevere to life with the same blend of magic and history that has made her Catherine LeVendeur medieval mystery series such a success. As ambitious and striking as The Mists of Avalon and The Hollow Hills, The Chessboard Queen is a beautiful rendering of the world's most timeless romance, a tale of earthly passion and spiritual love like no other before or since.