Cambridge, March 1354, and the cause of murder is once more on the mind of Matthew Bartholomew...

It is a time of division and denomination at the great university. The Carmelites and Dominicans are at theological loggerheads, so much so that the more fanatical are willing to swap rational arguement for a far deadlier form of debate. And no sooner is Carmelite friar Farcius found stabbed than a junior proctor is found hanging from the walls of the Dominican friary.

Why was Faricius found outside his friary, when he was not permitted to leave? How are the nuns at St Radegund's involved? And who is negotiating between Cambridge and their great enemy, Oxford? The longer his inquiries go on, the more Matthew Bartholomew realises that the murders are less to do with high-minded principles, and more to do with far baser instincts...