One thing that bothered me was while trying to solve the crime, the Bailiff and Knight asked villagers/villeins where they were during a specific time period, but how did they know what time it was? Clocks didn't appear to be in general use during Medieval Period and instead, people relied on the sun, church bells, which didn't ring every hour, or candles. The phrase we use "o'clock" differentiates between time using the sun as a reference or "of the clock." During the latter part of the 14th Century, mechanical clocks were used in monasteries or church towers , but would not have been affordable for poor villagers.
From the cover:
Simon Puttock has not been bailiff of Lydford Castle long in this year of 1316, when he is called to a nearby village to examine a burned-out cottage and the dead body within. But it is the newly arrived knight, Sir Baldwin Furnshill, who discerns the deceased was no victim or a tragic mishap; he was, in fact, murdered prior to the blaze.
