The Habit of Murder

The Twenty Third Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew
In 1360 a deputation from Cambridge ventures to the Suffolk town of Clare in the hope that the wealthy Elizabeth de Burgh has left a legacy to Michaelhouse. Yet when they arrive they discover that the report of her death is false and that the college seems destined for bankruptcy.Determined to see if some of its well-heeled citizens can be persuaded to
sponsor Michaelhouse, Matthew Bartholomew, Brother Michael and Master Langelee
become enmeshed in the town’s politics. They quickly discover that a great many
other people in Clare have recently met untimely deaths. These killings,
combined with the arrogance Lady de Burgh has shown over the refurbishment of
the church and the grotesque behaviour of some of her entourage, have created a
dangerous restlessness in the town: an atmosphere intensified when yet more
murders occur.
One of the victims is a fellow traveller of the Michaelhouse contingent, and
Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael feel honour-bound to identify his
killer. It is a hunt which takes them deep into Clare’s murky foundations and
which threatens their own survival as well as that of their beloved college.