After the violence of spring, when the civil war between Stephen and Maud swept through the town, Shrewsbury has enjoyed a quiet summer. Now, at the beginning of autumn, all is peaceful - the harvest was good and the store cupboards are full. But, as Cadfael reflects ruefully, such harmony cannot be expected to last. He is right. The trouble begins when Gervase Bonel, rich lord of...
Jonathan Hughes, an anthropologist specialising in social stereotyping, is determined to re-examine this case. There were alarming disparities in the evidence and Hughes has little doubt that there has been a terrible miscarriage of justice. But there is also something else pushing this half-Iranian, half-Libyan outsider to reach for the truth . . . This is more than a mere expose of corruption, it is a dark tale of solitude...