Back to the Flood - Diane Calton Smith

'Everything harks back to the flood,' or so the constable of Wisbech Castle claims. The market baker Alured is dead. In the midst of a ferocious blizzard, Roger of Abynton, the bishop's seneschal for the Isle of Ely, arrives in Wisbech. He soon finds himself struggling to unravel the web of cover-ups and lies surrounding the death of Wisbech's most hated man. These are unsettling times. Wisbech and the Fens are still living in the aftermath of the Great Flood of 1236, a time it seems no one can forget. While earthquakes strike the far side of the country and the Fens are beset by wild weather, floods and hunger, people fear this is God's punishment for their evil doings. Yet this is also a period of hope and rebuilding. Wisbech is gradually being developed. Until the town's obsession with the past is loosened though, it seems that none of its inhabitants will be able to move on. It is up to the seneschal to work through the smokescreen of deceit to identify Alured's killer and leave the townsfolk free to look to the future. For indeed it is a fact that in Wisbech everything harks back to the flood.