Satan in St. Mary's

THROUGH THE BLOODY, VICIOUS BATTLE OF EVESHAM in 1258 crushed Simon de Montfort's rebellion and cost him his life, the traitorous movement he founded was never completely eradicated. Decades later, when Edward I became King, he faced considerable opposition; for Simon's followers had gathered in London's teeming warrens and ghettoes to scheme murder, treason and revolt.

In 1284 Edward's interest was aroused by the Cheapside murder of Ralph Crepyn by Lawrence Duket, who then fled to the Church of St Mary le Bow for sanctuary and soon after, apparently, committed suicide. The King, deeply suspicious about the affair and fearing it might be linked with the rebels and their powerful underground society, the Pentangle, a group which practised the black arts, ordered 'his wily Chancellor, Burnell, to look into the matter. Burnell chose a sharp and clever clerk from the Court of King's Bench named Hugh Corbett to conduct the investigation.

Hugh — together with his manservant, Ranulf, a felon late of Newgate — was swiftly drawn into the tangled politics and dark and dangerous underworld of medieval London. Beneath the swirling river mists, he encountered many dangers and difficulties before resolving the dark and violent truth.