This is the fourth book in the Brother Cadfael mystery series. It is the time of the annual fair at Shrewsbury. Vendors arrive from near and far to sell their wares to the locals and those who travel from farther away to attend the fair. However, the town merchants are not happy with their cut of the profits from the fair and have asked the abbot to increase their percentage. The recent war has depleted their resources and the town infrastructure needs much repair. When they are rebuffed the sons of the merchants take it upon themselves to confront the visiting merchants for a bigger cut. An altercation ensues between the young men and vendors. Later, a vendor turns up dead and one of the young men is charged with the murder. As is common in who-done-its, one murder leads to another and another and the niece of the first victim seems to be under threat, or is she hiding something more than a secret suitor? Brother Cadfael and deputy sheriff Hugh Beringar have to solve the crime before the fair ends and all the possible suspects leave.
As Brother Cadfael stories go, this wasn't one of the better ones. And, unfortunately, the only copy available was a large print edition that is full of typographical errors. I am not the only one who found this frustrating, a previous reader penciled in a few corrections but probably decided there were far too many to fix them all.
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