Amid the worst snows in living memory, two well-born murderers return to Cambridge after receiving the King's pardon. But in this tenth adventure (after A Killer in Winter), they show no remorse, and are in fact ready to settle scores with those who helped convict them. When Matthew Bartholomew is called to the local mill to examine two corpses, he and Brother Michael know who to question, but in the fledgling university city, nothing is ever as straightforward as it seems.