At Christmastime, the sisters of St. Frideswide cannot turn away a motley drama troupe, nor the grievously wounded husband of the cloister's scullery maid. When two dead bodies turn up, Sister Frevisse must find out if one of the actors is a murderer in masquerade. In the tradition of Ellis Peters's Brother Cadfael, Sister Frevisse is sinfully good at discerning the mysteries of the soul--and solving the crimes of the human heart.