1537, England. The systematic destruction of monasteries, declared breeding grounds for vice and treason, is in full swing. However, events in the monastery of the small town of Scarnsey are not developing according to the script written by the main ruler, Thomas Cromwell. His emissary was brutally murdered and his headless body was found in a pool of blood not far from the desecrated altar. Who did it? Sorcerers, followers of black magic? Or smugglers? Or the monks themselves? Matthew Shardlake, a hunchback whose mind is capable of unraveling the most complex crimes, is entrusted with investigating the murder. Arriving at the monastery, he almost immediately discovers that this murder is not the first committed within the walls of the monastery...