The Maiden Bell (Thomas the Falconer)

the long version

Summer 1593; plague rages in London, and the people of southern England watch anxiously as the infection spreads. Meanwhile in rural Berkshire, there is great excitement in the isolated village of Lambourn, where a family of itinerant bell-founders has arrived to forge a new church bell. But the peace of a warm summer's night is brutally shattered when one of the churchwardens - a kindly old man without any enemies - is found dead in the woods. Unease stalks the Downlands; ancient superstitions surface along with old hostilities, and Thomas the Falconer is charged by his master to restore order. But despite attempts to cover up the churchwarden's death, he soon realizes he seeks a murderer.