I got this softcover from Better World Books. It's from a series about a 14th-century surgeon who solves crimes (or tries to) as circumstances demand. Lots of historical detail and some interesting characters. This is the eighth in the series, which began with The Unquiet Bones; it follows The Abbot's Agreement and is followed by Lucifer's Harvest.

This one opens with Hugh and his growing family - wife Kate, toddler Bessie, baby Sybil - going about their daily lives as the village prepares a bonfire for St. John's Day marking midsummer. But when human bones are found among the ashes next day, Hugh has to try and work out who it was and whether the death was accidental or murder. (One guess which.) The investigation starts out as a rather gruesome comedy of errors, with Hugh finding more than one possible candidate by seeking for missing persons and trying to match them to what he's observed of the remains. The first two identifications don't pan out, and by the time Hugh gets on the trail of the actual victim he falls foul of a greed-inspired conspiracy that costs him a beating and may cost even more if he isn't careful.

[There's an extensive glossary up front, with social, political, and religious terms - and descriptions of more mundane things like clothing and foodstuffs. Some of the foods sound pretty tempting! And in the afterword the author describes some of the real villages and ruins that inspired this location, including the 400-year-old library building in Bampton, which stood in as the Downton hospital in "Downton Abbey".]

Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.

I left this book in the Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2020 Four Elements challenge. ***