The fates are not being kind to the Hatherleighs. First the head of the family, Sir Roger, is killed in a riding accident; then his young son John is found dead, his poor body horrifically beaten. Although the small West Country community is eager to believe his death was an unfortunate accident, it soon becomes clear that the truth is far more disturbing. This, the seventh mystery featuring Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Simon Puttock, is another absorbing medieval "whodunit."