London, summer 1380. A clerk is pulled from the Thames after being struck on the head and drowned. Soon afterwards the moneylender Bartholomew Drayton is found dead inside his barred strongroom, killed by a crossbow bolt despite there being no apparent way for the murderer to enter or escape.
Sir John Cranston and Brother Athelstan are called upon to connect the deaths and unravel the locked-room puzzle. Their inquiry takes them through the city’s clerks, lenders and criminal networks as further clues suggest that the murderer is deliberately setting riddles for those who pursue him. Against a background of economic tension and approaching revolt, Athelstan must understand the logic behind the crimes before the killer’s game claims another victim.
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