May 1199. Richard the Lionheart is dead and his brother John has just been crowned King of England. John travels to St Edmund's abbey in Suffolk to give thanks for his accession. His visit coincides with the murder of a twelve-year-old boy whose mutilated body bears all the marks of ritual sacrifice and martyrdom. This isn't the first time such a thing has happened. Eighteen years earlier another child was murdered in the town in similar circumstances. Abbot Samson needs to find out if this is indeed another martyrdom or just an ordinary murder and appoints the abbey's physician, Master Walter of Ixworth, to investigate. What Walter uncovers is a web of intrigue and corruption involving some of the highest in the land. But unbeknown to him his own past holds a secret that will put his life in danger before the final terrible solution is revealed.