The 1660s were a time of great ferment-intellesctual, religious and
political-and this is reflected in Pear`s text. The novel is centred on a
suspicious death, that of Robert Grove, fellow of New College. We hear
about it from four witnesses, a Venetian Catholic intent on claiming credit
for the invention of blood transfusion; the son of a supposed traitor to
the Royalist cause, determined to vindicate his father; John Wallis, chief
cryptographer to both Cromwell and Charles 1l a mathematician, theologican
and master spy; and Anthony Wood, the famous Oxford antiqary. Each of the
first three witnesses is unreliable and only Wood, in the final volume,
reveals the truth.