Though he is one of England's most acclaimed intellectuals, John Gower is no stranger to London's wretched slums, and he knows how to trade on the secrets of powerful men. When sixteen unknown bodies are found in a privy, the sheriff of London seeks Gower's help. The men's wounds -- ragged holes created by an unknown object -- are unlike anything he has ever seen. Gower believes the men may have been used in an experiment -- a test for a fearsome new war weapon his informants call the ''handgonne.'' Gower turns to Geoffrey Chaucer, who thinks he just may know who commissioned this new weapon, an extremely valuable piece of information that some will pay a high price for -- and others will kill to conceal.