Sacrilege - S. J. Parris

A gripping historical thriller set in 16th-century England and centered on the highly secretive cult of Saint Thomas Becket, the 12th-century archbishop murdered in Canterbury Cathedral. \n \nLondon, summer of 1584: Radical philosopher, ex-monk, and spy Giordano Bruno suspects he is being followed by an old enemy. Instead, he is shocked to discover that his pursuer is in fact Sophia Underhill, a young woman with whom he was once in love. When Bruno learns that Sophia has been accused of murdering her husband, a prominent magistrate of Canterbury, he agrees to do anything he can to help clear her name. \n \nBut in the city that was once England's greatest center of pilgrimage, Bruno uncovers a more dangerous plot in the making, one that forces him to turn his detective's eye to the strange case of Saint Thomas Becket, a twelfth-century cardinal of Canterbury Cathedral whose mysterious murder is only matched by the legend surrounding the disappearance of his body.\n