The Bone Jar: An Owen Archer Short Story

By Candace Robb

A mystery story about the danger of false miracles and the treachery of true believers, part of the “pleasing medieval series” (Library Journal). 

Magda the Riverwoman has called Owen Archer to her island hut in the middle of the River Ouse with a special favor—to guard a jar of human bones. No one in York is greedier than the relic dealers, the insatiable charlatans who sell flesh and bone as miracle cures, but Magda will not sell the remains at any price. Instead, she asks Owen to protect the jar and keep one eye out for the dark figure who’s been watching the island, waiting patiently for the right moment to strike…

This suspenseful short story is sure to delight long-time fans of Candace Robb’s Owen Archer series—and provide first-time readers with a gripping introduction to her beautifully rendered world of treachery and intrigue in medieval England.
 
Praise for the Owen Archer novels:
 
“Fascinating [and] evocative.”—The Plain Dealer
 
“As full of intrigue as a Deighton or a Le Carré.”—The Guardian

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781682305409

Candace Robb

Candace Robb has read and researched medieval history for many years, having studied for a Ph.D. in Medieval & Anglo-Saxon Literature. She divides her time between Seattle and the UK, frequently visiting York to research the series. She is the author of ten previous Owen Archer mysteries and three Kate Clifford medieval mysteries.

Book preview

The Bone Jar

Candace Robb

Copyright

Diversion Books

A Division of Diversion Publishing Corp.

443 Park Avenue South, Suite 1008

New York, NY 10016

www.DiversionBooks.com

Copyright © 2016 by Candace Robb

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

For more information, email [e-mail]

First Diversion Books edition April 2016

ISBN: 978-1-62681-540-9

Also by Candace Robb

The Owen Archer Series

The Apothecary Rose

The Lady Chapel

The Nun’s Tale

The King’s Bishop

The Riddle of St. Leonard’s

A Gift of Sanctuary

A Spy for the Redeemer

The Guilt of Innocents

The Margaret Kerr Series

A Trust Betrayed

The Fire in the Flint

A Cruel Courtship

Kate Clifford Mysteries

The Service of the Dead

The Bone Jar

The tide was in. The Ouse River swirled round the small island of rock on which stood a solitary hut fashioned from bits of flotsam and jetsam, crowned by a much patched, no longer seaworthy Viking longboat from York’s past. Owen Archer folded his long legs into the coracle left for him on the muddy bank. The back of his neck tingled, as if someone was watching him, but he turned too late to see clearly the dark figure that disappeared into the smoke of the cooking fires. He told himself it meant nothing, the man had no doubt

Reviews for The Bone Jar

[john257hopper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a short story in the author's series of Owen Archer Medieval murder mysteries set in 14th century York. It was published during the ten year hiatus between books 10 and 11, but is clearly set earlier as there are references to Archer's patron Archbishop Thoresby still being alive and to his wife Lucie's pregnancy. Archer is asked by Magda the Riverwoman to guard a bone jar she is keeping at her riverboat house on the Ouse, but there is an amusing twist in the tale. This is very short and a bit insubstantial but Owen and Magda come across well here.