Sister Fidelma returns in this brand-new 7th-century Irish mystery by Peter Tremayne, acclaimed author of THE DEVIL’S SEAL and THE SECOND DEATH. If you love Ellis Peters you will be gripped by this novel.

When news comes to Cashel that Chief Bishop and advisor to King Colgu of Muman has been murdered within the fortress of the Ui Fidgente, it is a shock for all concerned. The Ui Fidgente are the long-time enemies of King Colgu’s family, and terrible conflict is threatened when the King learns that the culprit will be executed under new ecclesiastical rules.

As Colgu dispatches his sister Fidelma and her companion, Eadulf, to investigate, it seems there there is no uncertainty about the person who killed the abbot. But the man facing death is Gorman, commander of the King’s elite bodyguard and son of Fidelma’s closest friend.

Now Fidelma and Eadulf must face old enemies as they struggle to find an alternative to the apparent fact of Gorman’s guilt. And with the threat of war looming, time is running out to the allotted moment of Gorman’s execution…