First Sentence: In the darkened room, the man's shattered body gave a final convulsive jerk.
Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, and Bailiff Simon Puttock must leave their families and travel to the village of Gidleigh. The beautiful daughter of the town's miller has been found dead, the young monk, by whom she was pregnant, the obvious suspect. This wouldn't have involved Simon but that a miner has also died, and that is under his jurisdiction.
Upon their arrival at Wonson Manor, they find Sir Ralph is the new owner and his son Esmon in charge of a band of mercenary soldiers. Tension in the village increases as truths are exposed and more die.
Jecks is one of the better historical writers. There is excellent attention to period detail and a very strong sense of time and place.
All the characters are fully dimensional and well drawn. I like that the two protagonists' lives have changed through the series. They come through as real people with great strengths and realistic weaknesses and consequences. They are not the only characters who change, others do as well.
The story is very well plotted. Just when I thought I knew where it was going, it turned. I particularly liked that the point was made that small actions can have big consequences.
This was another very good book in an excellent series and I'm happy to know I've many more books to go.