When thirteen-year-old Thomas Berrington is attacked by a group of boys on his way home he believes it is just another beating he must take—until one of the boys is found dead, and Thomas is accused of the murder.

Fighting to save his reputation and his life Thomas is distracted by his feelings toward a girl his father would disapprove of: the pretty and resourceful Bel Brickenden. Together they uncover a web of deceit and lies to reveal the sad truth behind the murder. Meanwhile, another kind of death has come to Lemster—one that cannot be solved by reason alone.

A Death of Innocence is the first of three prequels relating the story of how Thomas Berrington leaves England to begin his travels to Moorish al-Andalus.