Introduced in Veil of Lies, which was a finalist (for Best
First Novel) for two major mystery awards (the Macavity and
the Shamus), Crispin Guest returns in this latest adventure.
Crispin Guest, a disgraced knight who was convicted of
treason and stripped of his friends, his land, his title and
his honor, is reduced to living off his wits, the only thing
left to him. In London, 1384, Guest has become known
amongst the rabble in London as the “Tracker” – a man who
can find anything, can solve any puzzle, and will do so for
hire. With the help of his apprentice, Jack Tucker, an
orphaned street urchin with more than a touch of the
criminous in his recent past, Guest has had his share of odd
and deadly “cases.” But this time, he’s approached by
someone he never expected to work for – a physician called
Jacob of Provencal. Jacob is a physician brought in from
France by the King and staying at court. He’s also a Jew in
a country which officially expelled them nearly a century
before, wherein an uneducated population fears them and the
educated one disdains them as pariahs (social and
otherwise). Back in his days at court, talking to one such
as Jacob would have been beneath Crispin Guest, much less
working for one. Now, he can’t afford to behave as such.
But what Jacob wants of him might be impossible – a series
of parchments have been stolen from his rooms. But those
rooms are at court and Crispin has been banned from court
forever at the risk of his life should he defy the king’s
decree.
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