In the mid-1360s Hugh de Singleton, a younger son trained as a clerk but drawn instead to surgery, has studied medicine in Paris and established himself at Oxford. When human bones are discovered in the cesspit of Bampton Castle, Lord Gilbert Talbot asks Hugh to determine who the dead woman was and how she died. Hugh’s examination points to the missing daughter of a local blacksmith, but the obvious suspect is condemned before Hugh is satisfied that the evidence has told the whole story.
The opening Chronicle establishes Hugh as both surgeon and investigator in the Oxfordshire manor world of Edward III. His medical knowledge gives him unusual ways of reading wounds, bodies and physical evidence, while his work as Lord Gilbert’s bailiff places him amid manor courts, assizes, household obligations and village rivalries. The mystery is rooted in a society where formal forensic science does not exist, so observation, anatomy and persistence must compete with reputation, confession and the expectations of local justice.
