Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murder in the Holy City | 1998 | Susanna Gregory | Buy |
| 2 | A Head for Poisoning | 1999 | Susanna Gregory | Buy |
| 3 | The Bishop’s Brood | 2003 | Susanna Gregory | Buy |
| 4 | The King’s Spies | 2004 | Susanna Gregory | Buy |
| 5 | The Coiners’ Quarrel | 2004 | Susanna Gregory | Buy |
| 6 | Deadly Inheritance | 2009 | Susanna Gregory | Buy |
| 7 | The Bloodstained Throne | 2010 | Susanna Gregory | Buy |
| 8 | A Dead Man’s Secret | 2011 | Susanna Gregory | Buy |
The Sir Geoffrey Mappestone series is set during the aftermath of the First Crusade and follows a Norman knight who would rather study languages and maps than fight. Murder in the Holy City (1998) opens in Jerusalem shortly after its capture by Crusader forces, where Mappestone is drawn into a murder investigation among the occupying soldiers and clergy. His intelligence and curiosity make him useful to his superiors, but his reluctance to play political games keeps getting him into trouble.
The series runs for eight books, moving between the Holy Land and England as Mappestone tries to settle into a quieter life but keeps getting pulled back into dangerous situations. Gregory co-wrote these novels with Simon Beaufort (another pen name), and the books share her characteristic blend of period detail and murder-mystery plotting. The Crusades-era setting gives the series a different flavor from her Cambridge and London novels, with the violence and religious fervor of the period providing constant tension.