The Gilty Party

One dead blacksmith

One missing witness

One agent with a very big problem

When an itinerant blacksmith dies in the village of Fontis, Ibram Ucalegon is sent to report back on the unattended death. No one thinks much about it. Hard-living old men die all the time, after all, and little changes except the name in the record of testimony.

But when Rustam Monbrith, the man who found the deceased, suddenly disappears on the day of the inquiry, the circuit court judge invokes an ancient and deadly...