The year is 1894. Yorbridge Cathedral is an unhappy place. Jack Sturmey,
lay clerk, is hated by everyone, for one reason and one alone: he has a little
black book with entries on all of them, man and boy, ordained and lay.
They call him ‘Squirmey’; everyone squirms at the very sight of him. One day,
Squirmey’s lifeless body is found in the cloisters, by the entrance to ‘the Cave’, where
the choir practices. Who killed him? Verney Barker, gruff Master of the Choristers;
Bacchus Dyson, College Principal; Sims Kilbey, Dean; Roberts Goulburn, Precentor;
Prince Charles Victor, royal student; perhaps even the brilliant but wayward Head
Chorister, Ivor Handl? Or someone else who had reason to fear Squirmey and his
ledger? The case is assigned to Detective Inspector John Lomas, a supernumerary
singer at Yorbridge. Lomas and Detective Sargeant Harry Makepeace, temporarily
transferred from Hartleydale CID to assist. They uncover a web of lies, fraud,
sexual intrigue and much more before they find the murderer, while preventing
a shocking scandal from becoming public. The Cloister Killings is a follow-up to
David Baker’s The Organ Loft Murders.
