It is 1376, and the famed Black Prince has died of a terrible rotting sickness, closely followed by his father, King Edward III. The crown of England is now left in the hands of a mere boy—the future Richard II—and the great nobles have gathered like hungry wolves around the empty throne. A terrible power struggle threatens the country, and one of London's powerful merchant princes is foully murdered within a few days of Edward’s death. Coroner Sir John Cranston and Dominican monk Brother Athelstan are ordered to investigate, and the body count begins to rise, Cranston and Athelstan are drawn ever deeper into a dark web of intrigue.