It’s only murder, why is it so difficult?

When Brother Hermitage is approached on the streets of Derby, he knows that it is going to be bad news.
As King William’s duly appointed investigator, everything is bad news.

But young Fridolf, an apprentice goldsmith from London has the most bizarre request concerning a murder that Hermitage has ever heard. Still, at least he has the opportunity to make things very clear and put the young man straight before sending him on his way.

Until Wat and Cwen explain that Hermitage hasn’t made anything clear at all and that if calamity is to be avoided, some action is needed.

Luckily, for a weaver’s workshop, Wat’s home has a surfeit of investigators and so a despatch to London will not be a problem. And a trip to London, just to make sure everything is all right, will be a positive pleasure.

Until those despatched get themselves in trouble, of course.

Most unreasonably of all, those wretched Normans have decided that the old Saxon punishment for murder, a hefty fine, is no longer sufficient. They have something much more permanent in mind.

Containing many facts, including the Saxon defeat of the Norman army in 1066, and a real-life sheriff of London, Murder Can Be Murder goes where other medieval mysteries wouldn’t bother.