Eastern horsemen rampage across the European mainland trampling underfoot the emergent kingdoms, unwieldy empires, and fledgling principalities that comprise medieval France and Germany. These are the Tartars, and in 1268 they reach the end of a long ride. Now, having driven their pillage to the very ends of the earth, they cross the English Channel under a banner of peace. They claim to seek audience with the king - but can they be trusted?The people of Oxford, unwilling hosts to the Tartar delegation, greet their arriving guests with cold silence. As the visitors stage an enormous banquet outside the city walls, that silence gives ways a sense of murky foreboding. Within hours, the Tartar ambassador is dead. It appears someone murdered him, but how? Magic?Master William Falconer doesn't think so. On the case once again, this committed scientist knows a rational explanation lay behind the emissary's death...or he thinks he knows. But the numbers just don't add up, and before the mystery is solved, Master William may come to doubt his own methods. Even if he figures out the murder, the great Falconer must still trick the murderer into revealing himself. Read Less