About Jewels of the Crown
Jewels of the Crown
By Robert A. Henricks
Story Synopsis
The year is 1216 and the wagon master for King John, NORMAN GERVASE, has just saved the crown jewels from disappearing forever in the swampy mud on the eastern coast of England. After learning of the death of the king, Gervase determines to protect the trove of jewels from any and all less worthy and founds an organization called the PATRICIATE which is dedicated to guarding the secret of the jewels in perpetuity.
All goes according to plan until, after eight centuries, one of the gems shows up on the auction block at Sotheby’s where it fetches an impressive 5.4 million pounds. The sale, however, is barely concluded before a gruesome murder results in the gem once more vanishing into obscurity.
A young officer, ANDREW STOKES, is assigned by Scotland Yard to track the killer who has fled to the north of France. Here, hundreds of years earlier, Norman Gervase had established his secret society the leadership of which are now panicked that the appearance of one of the hidden gems has compromised their long held secret and so the Patriciate too joins the search for the priceless stone.
Meantime, at Yale University, antiquities professor SIDNEY BLACKMON and his assistant SARAH MURPHY are following their own leads provided to them through study of a medieval map called the Martellus map and so they too make their way to France where they link up with Officer Stokes.
Once in Brittany, Professor Blackmon looks up an old colleague, a professor CHANTE DE VILLIERS who is on staff at the Universite’ Paris Diderot. De Villiers shows only a passing interest in the jewels though, unknown to Blackmon, de Villiers himself is a top member of the Patriciate and as such plans to use Blackmon to find the missing gem.
So Blackmon with Stokes and Sarah Murphy follow a trail of clues which begin in the Patriciate which they have infiltrated and which sends them variously to Limoges, Chalus, Obazine, Citeaux, Fougeres, La Trappe and finally back to England for the journey’s end.
And so, after breaching the clandestine lair of the Patriciate the trio of treasure hunters embark on a trek which leads them to follow the eight hundred year old footsteps of Norman Gervase to an obscure and long abandoned church known as Kirkstead Abbey in the south of England. Here they discover the crown jewels of King John secreted away in the dingy remnant of a dilapidated underground mausoleum.
A subsequent investigation of the security team at Sotheby’s leads to the discovery of a Patriciate member employed there who has been surreptitiously passing along information regarding ancient artifacts which will come up for auction. The death of this informant marks the end of the Patriciate and brings accolades for Professor Blackmon who returns home a hero among academia.
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Author Bio:
Robert Henricks is the author of numerous novels dating back to 1984. He has most recently been concentrating on historical themes for his books which typically stem from a single event in the past.
A lifetime student of history, he caught the bug from his father and followed it through to a college degree in U.S. and European history. His path to becoming a novelist began in high school after being exposed to such inspirations as the Iliad, the Odyssey and War and Peace. This experience led to other outstanding works of historical fiction such as Mark Helprin’s ‘A Soldier of the Great War’ and Michael Shaara’s ‘Killer Angels’.
While his path to becoming a writer of fiction went through the history genre, his interests were not confined there. In the spy genre, Ian Fleming’s James Bond led to Len Dawson and the ‘Ipcress File’ then to Adam Hall’s ‘Quiller Memorandum’ and William Stevenson’s ‘A Man called Intepid’ and finally to a whole slew of novels by Tom Clancy. He became addicted to the world of fiction and in the 80’s completed the first of two novels in an espionage series regarding
an agent of the Treasury Department and artifacts of wealth and historical value. His degree in history has fueled his passion from historical periodicals such as ‘The Blue and the Gray’ to ‘American Heritage’. He enjoys keeping up with current events by spending the morning with the Los Angeles Times and a full pot of French roast. And of course he also appreciates a couple of hours watching Humphrey Bogart or anything from the 40’s as well as football on Sundays.