The Butcher of St. Peter's [Hardcover]

"Nicely detailed and tightly argued, with involving and memorable characters. The whole series belongs in any collection where historicals are popular." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

When a merchant in Exeter hears an intruder in his home one night, his first thought is to conceal his adulterous lover. But then he witnesses a sinister figure stooping over the bed of his only child, a figure who seems to almost vanish into thin air. Two years on and the identity of the intruder has become common knowledge: the idiot of the city who lost his own children many years ago, and who seems doomed to wander the town searching for them. But when a boy then disappears, suspicion immediately falls on him. The local constable is determined to solve the mystery, as his own son disappeared some years ago and he always suspected the fool. Sir Baldwin is asked to follow a lead to the manor of Bishop's Clyst to try and find out what has happened. While he is there a body is found under the stone bridge - the body of a boy, but not the one who recently went missing...

Michael Jecks gave up a career in the computer industry to concentrate on writing and the study of medieval history, especially that of Devon and Cornwall. He lives with his family in northern Dartmoor.