Synopsis

Brother Cadfael presented Hugh Beringar with a difficult choice, one that pitted his duty to the king against the bonds of friendship. Simultaneously, at Shrewsbury’s bustling St. Peter's Fair, tensions flared between the townsfolk and both the Abbey’s representatives and the traveling merchants. A curfew was declared in an attempt to restore order, though it proved largely disregarded; and then, as if summoned by the unrest, a murder fell for Cadfael to investigate.