Prisoners, conspiracy and questions of state.
The killing of a York glazier brings a casket and its secrets out from their hiding place. Questioned about the contents Mathew Shardlake is a cause for concern to William Maleverer, member of the Council of the North, a concern that never really goes away. Sir Edward Broderick, the prisoner implicated with others in a plot against the King, is poisoned after Shardlake has visited him.
And there is talk that the Queen has an illicit relationship with one of her courtiers, a meeting that Shardlake witnesses. Assailed on all sides the lawyer finds he has few friends and allies to call on. His life is threatened more than once in York and it is only when escorting the prisoner back to London by sea that he is among kindly company.