This is the seventh book in the Domesday Series, and it is just as good as the others. My only regret is that I am coming to the end of this wonderful series. There are only three books left, and I will certainly miss Gervaise Bret and the wonderful Ralph Delchard. In this book the four members of the royal commission are in Cheshire, where border trouble with the Welsh appears to be building up. They are staying the in castle of the infamouse Earl Hugh who has always scandalized the countrside with his behaviour. When one of his huntsmen is shot with an arrow next to Hugh, he gets his castle mobilized for a war with the Welsh, and it looks like our intrepid four are to be caught up in the melee. These eleventh century books are so historically accurate, and so well-written, that it feels like you are actually there with the action as you read. ( )