<DIV><DIV>     In A.D. 670 Fidelma of Cashel is asked to act as an advisor to the Irish delegation to a hostile church council.  In an abbey in Burgundy, Bishop Leodegar of Autun has assembled church leaders from all over western Europe, intending to use the council to deliver a death blow to the Celtic Church.  But his plans are threatened when one of the delgates is found murdered, his skull crushed.<BR>     Fidelma and her husband, Brother Eadulf, are suddenly in the midst of a murder investigation involving some of the most powerful religious leaders.  The duo soon find that between the autocratic Bishop Leodegar and the malignant abbess, Mother Audofleda, a web of sinister intrigue is spreading throughout the abbey.  And murder is only the beginning. The theft of a priceless reliquary box, the disappearance of local women and children, and the concurrent rumors of a slave trade all combine to make this one of the most diabolical puzzles that Fidelma and Eadulf have ever faced.</DIV></DIV>