On Monday, March 30 in the year 1220, the day after Easter, in a field outside the town of Hexham in northern England, the body of a young child, Alfred, is discovered - murdered. Lord Godwin, Bailiff of Hexham and in the service of the Archbishop of Canterbury, is summoned to the scene. Alfred has been strangled, but even more shocking are the wounds marking his body: his palms bear puncture wounds, as if iron nails had been driven through them, and his left side has been pierced with a knife. Godwin reckons that Alfred died on Good Friday.Why would someone kill a child on Good Friday? And why would his body be marked in imitation of the crucifixion of Christ? Soon a rumor begins to spread that Jews had mrudered young Alfred, and a mob seizes all the Jews in Hexham, and extended family of nine. Godwin's first task is to prevent the Jews' murder by the mob, his second to find the person guilty of the horrible murder. A disillusioned and battle-weary ex-Crusader, Godwin sets out to find the murdered as a means of atoning for his part in the crusade - and for coming back when his dearest friend and kinsman Aidan did not. Will he be successful? Will the Jews' lives be spared? Will the murderer be exposed? And will Lord Godwin ever discover - wherever - the forgiveness he seeks for failing to protect the life of Aidan? Author Biography: Sara Conway teaches ancient and medieval history at Edmonds Community College in Edmonds, Washington. With undergraduate and advanced degrees in history from the University of Washington, she lives in rural Kingston, Washington, on the Kitsap Peninsula. Murder on Good Friday is her first book.