Bradecote and Catchpoll face a frantic race against time in an unforgiving winter landscape January 1144. Hugh Bradecote does not want his betrothed travelling on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Edgyth at Polesworth, but the Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy and his entourage of monks seem perfect as Christina's escorts, until they are captured by a renegade who kills for pleasure. Against a backdrop of a hard winter and a frozen River Severn, Undersheriff Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll are struggling to rescue Christina before a psychopath does his worst and Bradecote cracks under the pressure.