The tainted relic - The Medieval Murderers

The anthology centres around a piece of the True Cross, allegedly stained with the blood of Christ, which falls into the hands of an English knight, Geoffrey Mappestone, in 1100 at the end of the First Crusade. The relic is said to be cursed and, after three inexplicable deaths, it finds its way to England in the hands of a thief.
After several decades, the relic appears in Devon where it becomes part of a story by Bernard Knight, involving his protagonist Crowner John. In Oxford, in 1269, the discovery of a decapitated monk leads Ian Morson's academic sleuth, William Falconer, to discover a link to the relic. In 1323 in Exeter, Michael Jecks' Sir Baldwin, has reason to suspect its involvement in five violent deaths. Thirty years later, several suspicious deaths occur in Cambridge. As Susanna Gregory's Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael are to discover, the tainted relic has a crucial part to play. Finally, it's despatched to London, where Philip Gooden's Nick Revill will determine its ultimate fate.