England and France are at war in 1368 and. Joslin de Lay is a minstrel like his father. Joslin lives at the castle in Contenin when his father is murdered and he escapes to England. He must find his lost mother and for that he must go to Wales. With his father’s dagger and a rattling locket, he began his journey. Little does he know that a mysterious, threatening man is following him.

In this second book of Joslin’s journey he accompanies his friend Alys to London to tell of his friend Robin’s death and burial to Randolf the man to whom Robin was apprenticed.

Randolf invites Joslin to stay and so begins another tale of murder, of pestilence of the plague and of being a suspect because he is a foreigner.

An interesting murder. This series appears to be written as ROO, each book as a standalone, the author does not reference the previous story. It started off slow because the prologue was long and indefinite, and I fumbled to integrate the characters. Once it got going it did hold my attention. ( )