1653. Oliver Cromwell has dissolved the Rump Parliament and he and his generals have appointed a new Assembly of 140 men who will make England "a godly nation". One of the members, a Fifth Monarchist, who believed in the imminent end of the world, is found murdered near Westminster Hall. Why was he hanged and then his body deposited there? Was it because he was a Fifth Monarchist? To cause dissension so that Charles II might return to his throne? Or because of dubious dealings he was involved in the the City of London during the previous year? In his journey to find the truth, John Fenwick meets several tricksters, pewtermakers, a huge female wrestler and a professional killer in London, Cromwell's Generals, Fifth Monarchists and Parliamentary clerks in Westminster, wool merchants and country squires in Suffolk, before the path leads through Newgate Prison and several notable members of Livery Companies to someone riding two horses at the same time.