82,274 Words

Bristol, 1395. A stranger dies on Emma Fenwick's doorstep, and with his last breath, he speaks words that will unravel everything she thought she knew. Emma is a merchant's widow - respectable, practical, more comfortable with ledgers than with mysteries. She should leave the matter to the coroner and return to her accounts. She doesn't. With her irrepressible friend Margery at her side, Emma is drawn into the tangled lanes of medieval Bristol - questioning tight-lipped servants and evasive priests, stubborn merchants and sharp-eyed barmaids. Every answer raises new questions. Every clue leads somewhere unexpected. And the trail keeps circling uncomfortably close to home. But in a world where women are expected to hold their tongues, finding the truth is only half the battle. The other half is getting anyone to listen.