An elderly pilgrim dies after reaching Hawkenlye Vale, while a second and far more suspicious corpse is discovered nearby: naked, decomposing and killed by an expert hand. At the same time Prince John approaches Sir Josse d’Acquin in search of a stranger named Galbertius Sidonius, drawing Josse and Abbess Helewise into mysteries that appear to overlap.
The investigation reaches back to loyalties and betrayals formed during the Second Crusade and brings Josse’s own family into the story. Against the political tensions of the Angevin realm, Clare links murder, pilgrimage and memories of crusading to the dangerous ambitions of Prince John during his brother Richard’s reign.
