<DIV><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In the late autumn of 1380, Brother Athelstan and his parish council are busy preparing for the annual Christmas mystery play when two young whores are found slain at a Southwark tavern. Their deaths are only the beginning of a series of gruesome killings which occur around the parish of St. Erconwald's. A whole host of mysterious characters have assembled to this pageant of murder, among them the Misericord, master thief and con man; the Judas man, a bounty hunter who tracks down outlaws; and the Knights of the Golden Falcon, who assemble to celebrate their annual reunion. Brother Athelstan and Sir John Cranston must resolve not only the various grizzly deaths but also their source: the Great Robbery of the Lombard treasure which occurred in Southwark some 20 years earlier.</P></DIV>