The Wolves of Savernake - Tapa blanda

Taking stock of the king's new realm, two of William the Conqueror's surveyors investigate the death of a wealthy miller whose land claims earned him the ire of the local monks. Reprint.

and's mighty king, William the Conqueror; sends out surveyors and census takers to record the resources of his land and its people. Some welcome these inquisitive royal agents and their "day of judgment." Others hate them. But wherever the king's men go they bring excitement, and sometimes murder....

In ancient Bedwyn town, the kings Domesday researchers are suddenly faced with the violent death of the very man whose claims have drawn them there -- a wealthy miller, savaged by a wolf in Savernake Forest.

Now two clever king's men, soldier Ralph Delchard and lawyer Gervase Bret, must investigate not only questionable land claims but the miller's death as well. Have well-fed monks of Bedwyn Abbey somehow contrived the man's demise? Has his soft-eyed wife betrayed him? Is the dreaded Savernake wolf the familiar of the town witch, or is it the hound of heaven? No one knows except a dead man ....