A visit from Cotton’s ex-supervisor Stephanie Nelle proves to be anything but relaxing. Stephanie has just received her dead husband’s journal, eleven years after his suicide, with instructions to come to Copenhagen to purchase a book that holds the answers to her husband’s life work. Stephanie carries much guilt with her over her marriage. She and Lars were estranged for much of it, and she showed very little interest in his work. Because of this, Stephanie and her son, Mark were also estranged, especially sad as Mark was killed in an avalanche several years ago. Stephanie has come to Copenhagen to presumably help assuage her guilt, but gets more involved in Lars’s work than she intended and puts her life and Cotton’s life on the line, once again, this time for personal reasons, not professional.

Lars Nelle was researching the possibility that the Knight’s Templar did not disband in the fourteenth century when most of their leaders were tortured, but that they went deep underground with a sacred treasure, the Great Devise. The discovery of this relic would disprove the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and set the Christian world on its ear. Someone else knows about Lars’s work, though, and will stop at nothing, to find the Great Devise first, even if it means more deaths.

Berry has created a suspenseful story for a group of interesting characters, a story that shifts between the modern day present, the cloistered day present, and a violent past. Many of Berry’s characters are enigmas and his tragic characters are not above redemption, though it won’t come easily. Cotton has many demons in his past, few are revealed, and it appears Cotton will be featured in future novels.

With a popular theme of many recent novels, the disproving of a religious tenet is handled skillfully so as to not offend but be considered. There will be several surprises along the way and readers will find The Templar Legacy literate and historical with characters and plot thoroughly engrossing. Readers may even be a bit disappointed when they realize that there is still much to learn about Cotton Malone.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry