At the outset of Sedley's rewarding 17th mystery to feature Roger the Chapman (after 2007's The Three Kings of Cologne
), Roger joins an English army set to invade Scotland in the summer of 1482. The duke of Albany, whose older brother, James III of England, plans to put him on the Scottish throne, enlists Roger as a member of his personal bodyguard. On the march north, uncanny events connected to the cult of the legendary Green Man make Roger wonder why Albany wanted him in this role. When the army reaches Edinburgh, Roger discovers he must clear one of Albany's friends of murder. Sedley provides vivid vignettes of domestic life in the late Middle Ages, covering the social spectrum from the mighty Plantagenets to the most deprived agrarian serfs and foot soldiers. The meticulous, well-paced plot builds to a real surprise at the end. (June)
