William Urry was a native of Canterbury, and I get the impression that he knew everything about the history of his city.  He died in 1981, leaving behind two books in manuscript: one on Christopher Marlowe and one on Thomas Becket.  Both were published posthumously, although it took nearly twenty years in the case of the latter.  This is my favorite out of all the books on Becket that I've seen.

Each chapter's title pretty much sums up its contents.

Prologue: The King and Becket - a mini-biography of Becket and the backstory of his relationship with Henry.

Chapter 1: The Return from Exile - that's self-explanatory.

Chapter 2: The Plot - background on the knights and events shortly before the murder.

Chapter 3: Christmas at Canterbury, 1170 - what Becket did during the Christmas season.

Chapter 4: The Interview at the Palace - the conversation between the knights and Becket on the afternoon of the 29th.

Chapter 5: The Murder - hm, what could that be about?

Chapter 6: The Aftermath - the effect of these events on Henry, personally and politically.

Epilogue: The holy blisful martir - the cult of St. Thomas.
 

I always find it easier to go into great detail on what I didn't like about a book than about what I did like.  And I love this book, so I won't have many comments.

The author loved his subject, and it shows.  He's remarkably well-informed, drawing on a wide range of primary sources, but he avoids the dryness that plagues so much scholarship.  The book is written in a very readable style and is full of the kind of little details I like to know, like what Becket wore on his last day, or what exactly people said (as exact as possible, considering the vagaries of memory, but the words are drawn from various chronicles).  It's also lavishly illustrated with pictures from medieval manuscripts (including the Becket Leaves), photographs of relevant places and of artifacts such as pilgrim badges, and later artists' representations of parts of the Becket story.

I guess I do have one small criticism.  There's no bibliography, just a page of further reading.  Each book listed there does come with helpful comments, though.