Author(s): Maureen Cashman

Canberra and featured authors

'Scandinavian noir' meets Don Quixote in this intriguing mystery romance set on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

In 1593, a wandering monk, Carmelo, creates a series of medals featuring Roland, celebrated in the medieval epic poem, The Song of Roland. In 2012, Armi, a young Finnish Border Guard, flees a murderous partner and sets out to walk the Camino. Although separated by five centuries, their journeys and stories converge at a ruined monastery on the Camino.

Carlo Fontal, one of the monastery's owners, is restoring it, but it is unclear where the money for the project is coming from. Armi, her suspicions aroused, is torn between her growing attraction to Carlo and her reluctance to repeat past mistakes.

What secrets connect the medal, the monastery, and the deceased billionaire who owned the Roland Medals? And what does a predator from Armi's troubled childhood know about them? As Armi strives to find the truth, can she trust her feelings, vanquish her demons and take back the happiness that was stolen from her so long ago?

Fans of historical mysteries by Kate Mosse, Iain Pears and Umberto Eco will love the interplay of the past and the present in this gripping story.