The prequel, written halfway into the series: 3 stories chronicling Cadfael's entry into monastic life (November 1120), his first cases (December 1135) & the seeds of the war between Maud and Stephen.

August 1138: King Stephen lays siege to Shrewsbury Castle and, victorious, orders the surviving defenders to be executed. But then there's an extra corpse, clearly not executed. Whodunnit - and why?

July 1139: While traders arrive from near and far, townsfolk claim a share of the Abbey's dues from the annual fair. Then a merchant is found murdered - but there's more to this than meets the eye!

November 1139: After the sack of Worcester by Empress Maud, a young nun, a young nobleman & his sister get lost in the Marshes. Cadfael rushes to the rescue - and meets a messenger from his own past!

September 1140: The Abbey accepts a novice with a troubling zeal for monastic life (but not its virtues!), who may or may not be connected to the death of a cleric traveling through his home village.

June 1141: A cripple, his sister and 2 brothers on a painful pilgrimage are among the attendees of the annual feast of St. Winifred. And the abbot brings word of a murder at a council in Winchester...

December 1141: The vacant parish in the Abbey's Foregate is given to a haughty priest who is soon so unpopular among his flock that, when he turns up dead, there are suspects aplenty for his murder.

October 1142: Cadfael must unravel a web of murders and sinister intrigue involving a promising, bright young heir and a hermit and his companion who are tenants on the land of the young man's aunt.

June 1143: A young clerk returns from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with his master's body, only to find himself accused of both heresy and the murder of his successor, hired in his absence.

Summer 1144: The threat of a Danish invasion, the disappearance of a girl and a murder complicate a mission of church diplomacy to Wales that Cadfael has joined as an interpreter.

November 1145: Cadfael must resolve conflicts related to a murder at a Coventry peace conference and, primarily, between his monastic vows and his urge to free a loved one from ransomless captivity.