Ryder: Bird of Prey

The Maltese Falcon was no mere tale. The fabulous jeweled golden bird really existed. Still ex- ists, according to the last words of a dying man. Ayesha Ryder is on its trail, for reasons other than the Falcon itself. It is said to contain a clue to the lost burial place of King Harold of Eng- land — seen as a potent symbol by ruthless politicians determined to break up the UK and create a new, independent, English Kingdom. The Falcon may contain a second clue, one few would believe.

Labeled an assassin, hunted by Scotland Yard and Dame Imogen Worsely of MI5, as well as those who want the Falcon and its secrets for themselves, Ayesha joins forces with Joram Tate, a mysterious librarian known to her friend Lady Madrigal, one-time lover of Lawrence of Arabia. With Ayesha’s attraction to Tate growing, they follow clues left by long dead knights to the tomb of a Saxon king, then to ruined Battle Abbey. When the trail leads them to the discovery of a stunning secret hidden for a thousand years beneath an English castle, Ayesha must battle modern killers with medieval weapons before confronting the evil that would destroy her nation.