Master William Falconer returns in this chilling and atmospheric medieval murder mystery.Oxford University, 1271: for the first time in history a college is to be purpose-built for students to live and study in. As old buildings are pulled down to make way, a body is revealed. It becomes clear that the man was murdered.Regent Master William Falconer is distracted from examining the apparent suicide of a serving girl and deduces that the skeleton is twenty years old. He must rack his brains of his past time in Oxford to recall any significant events, when England was involved in an earlier Crusade, which could provide a solution to this case. As the heavens open, and Oxford is threatened with flooding, Falconer is drawn into violent events where the past and the present collide with startling consequences.