King Henry II's mistress, Rosamund, has been poisoned, and Adelia Aguilar, the intriguing forensics expert first introduced in Mistress of the Art of Death, once again is charged by King Henry to find the murderer. But there is more at stake than the identity of a killer: Civil war threatens to ravage an already war-sick England as Henry's Queen Eleanor rallies troops to depose him. Adelia, now the mother of an infant daughter, is reunited with her lover, Rowley Picot, Henry's loyal bishop. As more savage killings ensue, Adelia works feverishly to save innocents and protect the peace.