During the ploughing of the Potter's Field in October 1143 the grisly remains of a woman's body are unearthed. Recently abandoned by her husband, the tenant potter, roumour had it that the wild, beautiful Welsh woman had returned to her homeland - perhaps with a lover. But the discovery of the corpse on Abbey land raises all sorts of questions, and ones that impel Brother Cadfael to leave the tranquillity of the herbiary in order to piece together the cryptic clues of a baffling crime.
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