An ARKANE Thriller by J.F. Penn
Tomb of Relics
A supernatural relic. A thousand-year-old conspiracy. A madman who turns death into art.
Days before an unprecedented papal visit, the skull reliquary of Thomas Becket is stolen from Canterbury Cathedral and returned as a fake.
A fake so perfect it could only come from a master forger, one who makes his martyrs authentic.
The trail runs from a Boston cadaver lab to Kraków to the Shrine of the Magi at Cologne, and behind it all, on a haunted Northumberland estate, waits a collector who has been acquiring relics for a very, very long time.
A novella that begins with the murder of Becket and has never really ended.
From death comes life. Life is the price.
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The research behind the book
The murder of Thomas Becket
Four knights, one archbishop, 29 December 1170. The stain never left the stones.
Learn more →The Becket skull reliquary
Made around 1666, kept at Stonyhurst. Jo saw it at the British Museum in 2021 and wondered whose bone is really inside.
The Shrine of the Magi
The bones of the Three Kings came to the Rhine in 1164 and built a cathedral around themselves.
Learn more →The red market
The legal cadaver economy is real, priced by the gram. Jo is a registered donor.
The Pilgrims' Way
Jo walked from London to Canterbury in six days in 2020. This book came home with her.
Learn more →Fake relics through the ages
Enough wood of the True Cross to build a ship: the medieval relic trade and its craftsmen.
Stone of Fire
Book 1
Crypt of Bone
Book 2
Ark of Blood
Book 3
One Day in Budapest
Book 4
Day of the Vikings
Book 5
Gates of Hell
Book 6
One Day in New York
Book 7
Destroyer of Worlds
Book 8
End of Days
Book 9
Valley of Dry Bones
Book 10
Tree of Life
Book 11
Tomb of Relics
Book 12 · this book
Soldiers of God
Short story
Spear of Destiny
Book 13