Falconer's Crusade

If thirteenth-century Oxford had an Inspector Morse, he would be Regent Master William Falconer - daringly progressive teacher, Aristotelian philosopher, amateur sleuth.
It is 1264. England is in turmoil as the barons, led by Simon de Montfort, prepare to challenge the authority of King Henry III. Oxford University is a hotbed of shifting allegiances as the chancellor, uneasily aware that the future of the university could depend on choosing the winning side, prepares to welcome Henry's son, Prince Edward.
In a crime seemingly unconnected to these events, a young servant girl is savagely murdered, and the townspeople, ever suspicious of students, form a lynch mob. Meanwhile, Regent Master William Falconer, fascinated by aerodynamics, tinkers with bird skeletons in an attempt to understand the principles of flight. Master Falconer, following the example of his mentor Roger Bacon, is a daringly progressive teacher - and a keen amateur detective who brings not only an eye for human foibles to bear on his cases, but Aristotelian logic as well.
Falconer becomes involved in the case when Thomas Symon, a student newly arrived from the country who may have witnessed the strange killing, narrowly escapes being beaten to death by the mob. Two other students are not so lucky. As Falconer investigates the circumstances of the murder, he is drawn into a world of heresy, magic, and sudden, ferocious violence.