The School of Medicine in Salerno: A real-life phenomenon of the 11th and 12th centuries. It flourished under the rule of the Kings of Sicily whose administration—consisting of Normans, Greeks, Jews, Africans, and Muslims—was unique at that and, alas, any other, time. Women were admitted, surgery and dissection were allowed, but the School later disappeared, undoubtedly due to the disapproval of the Church. Adelia Aguilar: Abandoned on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius as a baby, she was found and adopted by a Jew and his Catholic wife, both of them doctors who, discovering their adopted daughter’s scientific genius, put her to study anatomy at the School of Salerno. Her lack of religious prejudice and skill in detective pathology make her a mistress of the art of death and, therefore a useful – but reluctant -- investigator of murders. All of which, of course, must remain unseen in the women-hating world outside Salerno. Simon of Naples: A Jew, part diplomat, part fixer, trusted and employed by various European monarchs to sort out their more intractable problems – in this case an accusation of ritual child-murder against the Jewish community in Cambridge, England. Adelia, again reluctantly, is sent with him to be his adviser on the manner of the children’s deaths. Mansur: A Marsh Arab, helped and sheltered by Dr Aguilar who found him running away from the monks who had him castrated as a child in order to preserve his soprano singing voice– a not uncommon occurrence. He is Adelia’s devoted protector. Prior Geoffrey: Head of the Augustine canonry (an actual and rich monastery founded at Barnwell in Cambridge in 1092). Like many 12th century clerics, he has a more liberal attitude to sinners – having been one himself – than many later churchmen. Joan, Prioress of St Radegund’s: Cares more for horses and hunting than her religious duties but hopes to enrich her convent by attracting pilgrims who hope for miracles from the bones of Little St Peter, a child thought to have been martyred by the local Jews. There is a lot of money to be made by such relics. ( In real life, St Radegund’s nuns had a reputation for slackness and the convent was closed down in the fifteenth century because of “ill fame.” Its buildings and estates were given to the Cambridge foundation that is now Jesus College.) Sir Rowley Picot: Large and jolly, one of the king’s hated tax inspectors and, despite his plebeian background, one of the ambitious, clever men that could expect to rise to high office under Plantagenet rule. Inquisitive about the child murders, he has his own agenda. Roger of Acton: A typical religious hysteric, of whom there are thousands around England and the Continent, preaching more hatred of sin than brotherly love and fomenting violence against Muslims and Jews. He comes from a poor background and is probably an altar boy who learned enough Christian dogma to shave his head and pose as a cleric – which means any crime he commits cannot be tried in, or punished by, a civil court. Gyltha: One of the “tigers” of a Saxon fenland that held out longer against Norman rule than the rest of England. Now earning her living in the eel trade, she was once housekeeper, and perhaps more than that, to Prior Geoffrey, who asks her to look after Adelia. Ulf: Gyltha’s grandson, a sharp little fenland urchin, destined to become Adelia’s devoted friend. He may or may not also be the Prior’s grandson but is fortunate in receiving schooling. Monasteries are the only source of education for workers’ sons at this time and canonries, like St Augustine’s, do the most to see they get it. Henry II: Stigmatised as the murderer of Archbishop Thomas Becket, he is nonetheless England’s greatest king. Cunning, brilliant, energetic and with an unstable temper, he institutes a rule of law that will stand for a thousand years, and which provides the basis for the legal system in all English-speaking countries, including the U.S. and Canada. Mercilessly taxes his Jewish subjects’ fortunes but also protects them from the enmity of the Church and the common mob.