A William Falconer Mystery - Oxford University, 1271. As old buildings are pulled down to make way for a new purpose-built college, a body is revealed. Regent Master William Falconer deduces that the skeleton is twenty years old. He must try to recall any significant events, when England was involved in an earlier Crusade, which could provide a solution. 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 . . .