Rating:***

Summary: Merchants with wares from all parts of the world have gathered in Shrewsbury to participate in Saint Peter's fair. The townspeople, having suffered a crippling loss last year, have come to the Abbey to ask for more money from the fair. Abbot Radulfus refuses their request point blank, causing more than a few bad feelings between the town and the church. The next day, some of the youths of the town decide to take matters into their own hands, and ask the merchants themselves to pay the toll to the town instead of the Abbey. The peaceful plea soon turns into a riot when their leader is accidentally struck down. The boy dissappears from sight until the next morning, when a merchant's body is found, murdered. Someone wants one of the dead man's possessions badly enough to kill for it, and Cadfael is once again put into the position of finding the guilty party before more innocent lives are ruined.

    I read this way back when I was still in middle school. I was about 3/4ths of the way done with the book, when my mother returned it. Another person checked it out before I could get my hands on it, and failed to bring it back. So I waited a year and a half in suspense until I finally found it in some book shop and read the last bit. I wasn't dissappointed. It all was quite exciting, and I hope none of you have to wait so long to find out who did it.

Written by: Lava