The murder of wealthy cleric, Peter Clemence, an envoy of the king on his way to Chester, leads the finger of suspicion to point to a new monk at the Abbey, Meriet Ashby. Cadfael investigates at the behest of the abbot, on whom political pressures are being piled from the civil war raging round England. Cadfael uncovers a tangled web of family loyalty, dishonesty & unrequited love.