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A Matthew Cordwainer Medieval Mystery Books in Order

Part ofJoyce Lionarons Books in Order

This page shows the A Matthew Cordwainer Medieval Mystery books by Joyce Lionarons in order, with summaries, reading order, and series background.

Last updated: June 8, 2026

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Publication Order

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20 books

1

Blood Libel

by Joyce Lionarons

2018

A Jewish moneylender's murder lands Matthew Cordwainer in the middle of rising tension between Christians and Jews in York. Arrest the wrong man, and the city could tip into riot.

2

Corpus Christi Day

by Joyce Lionarons

2018

A young stonemason is stabbed in Saint Martin's Church just as York prepares for the Corpus Christi plays. Matthew Cordwainer has to decide whether the answer lies with the dead man's wife or with rivals among the city's stone carvers.

3

Dark Justice

by Joyce Lionarons

2018

Someone is killing York shopkeepers one by one, and Matthew Cordwainer is left to manage the case with too little help. The hunt forces him to balance failing strength against stubborn resolve.

4

The Golden Crucifix

by Joyce Lionarons

2018

King's coroner Matthew Cordwainer investigates the strangling deaths of three prostitutes in thirteenth-century York. With the sheriff chasing the wrong suspect and another woman in danger, Matthew has to move fast despite age and pain.

5

The King's Ditch

by Joyce Lionarons

2018

A young noblewoman flees her father's manor, and the aftermath brings Matthew Cordwainer into another tangled inquiry. Outside the city walls, family power and private violence prove just as dangerous as York itself.

6

The White Rose

by Joyce Lionarons

2018

When a noblewoman is found poisoned, Matthew Cordwainer is drawn into a case shaped by rank, gossip, and old resentments. In York, private spite can turn deadly very quickly.

7

A Relic of Saint Cedd

by Joyce Lionarons

2019

A stolen relic, a stabbed traveler, and two savage farmhouse murders seem unrelated at first. Matthew Cordwainer has to find the link while Thomas starts thinking about a life beyond his service.

8

Child's Play

by Joyce Lionarons

2019

Three boys at play become the starting point for a darker mystery in medieval York. Matthew Cordwainer has to look past childish mischief to the adult violence hiding behind it.

9

Three Score and Ten

by Joyce Lionarons

2019

The death of a wealthy York merchant opens a case full of money, family strain, and competing stories. Matthew Cordwainer has to sort through the claims before another life is broken.

10

A Matter of Justice

by Joyce Lionarons

2020

A woman's murder in a village outside York sends Matthew Cordwainer into a case that refuses to stay simple. Local loyalties, hidden motives, and the limits of official power all get in his way.

11

Deep Water

by Joyce Lionarons

2020

When two of the Archbishop of York's messengers are attacked, Matthew Cordwainer is drawn into a case that reaches beyond ordinary city quarrels. What looks simple at first keeps widening, with danger and divided loyalties waiting underneath.

12

Sufficient Unto the Day

by Joyce Lionarons

2021

A weaver's family is murdered in their beds, then a beggar is killed by Bootham Bar. Matthew Cordwainer begins to suspect someone is trying to rid York of its poor, and the evidence points somewhere shocking.

13

The Eyes of the Dying

by Joyce Lionarons

2021

Two orphaned children vanish from Saint Leonard's Hospital, and a murdered anchoress soon gives Matthew Cordwainer another thread to follow. As the cases tighten around him, the answers seem to reach back into his own past.

14

Sweet Death

by Joyce Lionarons

2022

A nobleman is murdered at Saint Mary's Abbey while a tavern maid dies from poisoned sweets. Matthew Cordwainer ends up juggling three killings at once, with help from Hugh Porrock and Berta Northgate.

15

Two Tales

by Joyce Lionarons

2022

A young carpenter is stabbed after a harvest festival, giving Matthew Cordwainer too many suspects and no easy answer. As he investigates, he teaches Hugh and recalls an older case involving two murdered sisters.

16

The Healers

by Joyce Lionarons

2023

While York wrestles with theft and household troubles, Matthew Cordwainer investigates the murders of a healing woman and her grandmother. With few clear suspects, he fears the truth will arrive too late to protect someone he loves.

17

Possession

by Joyce Lionarons

2024

After Matthew Cordwainer falls seriously ill during an investigation, twelve-year-old Hugh takes up the case himself. The deaths of a man and his children raise terrifying rumors of demonic possession, and Hugh has to face the danger alone.

18

Sisters

by Joyce Lionarons

2025

A priest is found stabbed in his churchyard, and three sisters in the parish seem more interested in stripping the church than helping the inquiry. Matthew Cordwainer has to decide whether they are thieves, murderers, or both.

19

Whitsun Market

by Joyce Lionarons

2025

Set in York during Whitsun, this later Cordwainer mystery throws Matthew into another knot of rumor, suspicion, and sudden death. The festival bustle only makes it harder to see who is telling the truth.

20
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Destroying Angels

by Joyce Lionarons

2026

After Martha Holbrok is sentenced to hang for attacking Agytha, someone starts murdering the King's Justices of the Eyre Court. Moira, Roger, and Jason begin hunting the killer themselves, with danger on every side.

Series background & context

Matthew Cordwainer is the King's Coroner of York, a former mercer who knows the city's trades, grudges, and alleys as well as its law. He is older than most series detectives, often in pain, and never under any illusion about his own limits. That is a big part of what makes these books work. He solves cases by paying attention, asking hard questions, and refusing to let status or noise push him toward the easy answer.

York matters just as much as Matthew does. These stories are set in thirteenth-century York, and the city is always alive with churches, guild halls, taverns, markets, narrow lanes, and the pressure of people living close together. The Minster, the city walls, the liberties controlled by the Church, and the filthy streets are not just background. They shape who can act, who can hide, and who can avoid justice for a little while longer.

The mysteries usually begin with a body, but they rarely stay small. A murdered prostitute, a poisoned noblewoman, a missing child, a dead merchant, a stolen relic, a family slaughtered in bed. From there the books open outward into guild rivalry, family pressure, church privilege, anti-Jewish hatred, poverty, inheritance fights, and the rough everyday bargain between the powerful and everyone else. Matthew spends a lot of time with people who would usually be left at the edge of the story, and that gives the series much of its strength.

Age matters here.

So does company. Matthew's investigations are tied to the household and working relationships around him, especially his manservants, his longtime housekeeper Agytha, young Hugh Porrock, and the difficult but often useful Sheriff de Bury. The series has an ongoing emotional thread as these relationships deepen, shift, and sometimes strain. The books are not built around one giant master plot, but they do reward reading in order because Matthew's health, home life, and circle of trust change over time.

The tone sits in a smart place between cozy and grim. The crimes can be ugly, and Lionarons never pretends medieval life was clean or fair. But the books are not cynical. They care about justice, about the texture of daily work, and about the stubborn decency of people trying to protect one another in a hard world.

If you like medieval mysteries with a strong sense of place, an older investigator who has to think harder than everyone else, and cases rooted in ordinary lives as much as public scandal, Matthew Cordwainer is easy to get attached to.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 20 A Matthew Cordwainer Medieval Mystery Books in Order