When two of the Archbishop of York’s messengers are murdered on their way to York Minster, Matthew Cordwainer, King’s Coroner, is drawn into the deep waters of thirteenth-century politics. Accompanied only by a new manservant unfamiliar with the city and its ways, Cordwainer must search for the killers among not only the noble families, but the wealthy Italian bankers and French merchants who have taken up residency in York, all of whom enjoy the services of men-at-arms who will stop at nothing to protect their lord and masters.