A sudden thaw on Christmas Day reveals to Harry the beggar a dead girl of extraordinary beauty frozen beneath the snow off the pathway to Saint Laurence's church in medieval Ludlow. It looks like murder, and medieval deputy coroner Stephen Attebrook, a poverty-stricken knight, feels compelled to find those responsible.It is a task that propels him into the domain of his worst enemy, Earl Percival FitzAllan, where he must play an involuntary role in the shadow war of espionage and raid being waged between the supporters of King Henry III and the rebellious barons under Simon de Montfort - a game that could cost him his life.