In 1370 Lord Gilbert Talbot is required to provide men for Prince Edward’s campaign in France, and he orders Hugh de Singleton to accompany the force as surgeon. The journey takes Hugh away from Bampton and into the Black Prince’s war around Limoges. Among the English party is Sir Simon Trillowe, Hugh’s long-standing enemy. When Simon is found murdered and Hugh’s known hostility makes him an obvious suspect, the surgeon must investigate while also proving that he did not take revenge.
The ninth Chronicle places its murder mystery inside the Hundred Years’ War rather than the familiar manor landscape. Military movement, siege conditions, wounded soldiers and the authority of great lords determine what Hugh can see and whom he can question. Edward, the Black Prince is therefore not merely background: his 1370 campaign provides the reason Hugh and Lord Gilbert are in France at all. The setting lets Starr connect Hugh’s medical profession with the practical violence of medieval campaigning while keeping the central problem one of evidence and motive.
