The Magdalene Reliquary (The Magdalene Chronicles)

Product Description
A curious priest uncovers a mystifying secret… One that leads to a long-buried relic some will do anything to possess. Can he outwit adversaries who will stop at nothing to keep him from revealing an object that challenges history as we know it? Father Michael Dominic discovers a strangely constructed 13th-century puzzle hidden deep within the Vatican Secret Archives. With the help of his brilliant colleague, investigative journalist Hana Sinclair, solving the puzzle exposes a cleverly concealed map that marks the hiding place of a sacred artifact—one with shocking implications. From Rome to France and Switzerland, his search for the object finds Dominic pitted against deadly agents and a ruthless Russian oligarch. Desperate, he must choose between trusting an unlikely collection of possible allies—or certain death. As his enemies close in, can he survive and bring this staggering new secret to light, or will his pursuers bury it beside him in the cold, dark earth of a long-forgotten cave? Sure to please fans of the bestselling novel The Magdalene Deception, this second entry in The Magdalene Chronicles series is impossible to put down. Packed with historical events and non-stop action, readers will be burning through pages late into the night.
Review

“McAvoy’s second danger-filled adventure in his Magdalene Chronicles series carries readers up and down Europe as a Vatican archivist and company pursue an ancient reliquary hidden, according to ancient documents, deep within a French cave. While searching archives for Templar records, Father Michael Dominic stumbles across a medieval puzzle that, when solved, could possibly reveal the location of a reliquary containing the bones of Jesus Christ. Dominic enlists the help of Karl Dengler and Lukas Bischoff, cavers and members of the Vatican Swiss Guard, to hunt and retrieve the reliquary — but finding the holy remains is only the first step, and hazards lurk around every corner.

McAvoy’s plot moves at a steady clip, with enough thrills and turns to keep the reader’s attention . . . The puzzle of the reliquary gets quickly resolved, but when a man bent on revenge against Father Dominic steals the artifact and traps the cavers, thinking he’s sealed their fate, McAvoy launches readers into a wild ride of action, intrigue, and biblical secrets. The sprawling mystery will entangle Russian oligarchs, Italian secret agents, and even a Romani commune working to recover the reliquary. A background scheme to unseat the Vatican’s Secretariat of State adds a shadowy element of conspiracy without distracting from the momentum of the chase.

McAvoy’s narrative structure is sound, and, true to his genre, he populates his thriller with characters engaging or villainous enough to serve the purposes of the plot . . . Readers looking for an exciting biblical relic hunt colored by historical intrigue will be satisfied with this appealing chase.”

“Takeaway: This thriller’s hunt for a biblical relic will appeal to readers who crave a sense of history with their intrigue and danger.”
— PUBLISHERS WEEKLY/BOOKLIFE

“A direct sequel to
The Magdalene Deception, and it’s a good one, from my namesake (no relation, I promise). One thing I will say from the off is that before you read …
Reliquary it would definitely help to have read its predecessor first, because there is great backstory for most of the endearing cast of characters in this book, and there are multiple strands of narrative which stem from the first. While the quest of this book is a new one (these books tend to revolve around archaeological missions for holy relics – think Dan Brown, or perhaps a more down-to-earth take on
Raiders of the Lost Ark). For those of you who don’t know, a reliquary is a chest containing the remains of a historical figure – in this case, the secret child of Christ and Mary Magdalene, so I suggest perhaps not for the more devout Christians amongst yo