1326. In an England riven with conflict knight & peasant alike find their lives turned upside down by the warring factions of Edward II with his hated favourite Hugh le Despenser & Edward's estranged queen Isabella & her lover Sir Roger Mortimer. Yet even in such times the brutal slaughter of an entire family right down to a babe in arms still has the power to shock. Three further murders follow & bailiff Simon Puttock is drawn into a web of intrigue vengeance power & greed as Roger Mortimer charges him to investigate the killings. Michael Jecks brilliantly evokes the turmoil of fourteenth-century England as his well-loved characters Simon Puttock & Sir Baldwin de Furnshill strive to maintain the principles of loyalty & truth.