In the atmosphere of fear and superstition which grips the city, rumours spread that a spate of deaths at St Leonard's Hospital is no accident. The hospital is in debt and has suffered thefts of valuable treasures; the appointment of a former prostitute as a lay sister provokes further outrage. Sir Richard de Ravenser, Master of the Hospital, returns from Westminster painfully aware that scandal could ruin hospital and his own career. Anxious to address the crisis, he requests the services of Owen Archer, spy for his uncle John Thoresby, Archbishop of York, to investigate the deaths.
With plague rife and the city's inhabitants daily besieging his wife, the apothecary, for new preventatives and cures, Owen Archer is unwilling to become involved. There is too little to link the victims teach other: the riddle seems unsolvable. But careful enquiries reveal a further riddle, connected to one of the victims. Is this where the truth lies?
© William Heinemann 1997