The Nicholas Feast — Pat McIntosh

Glasgow, 1492: Gil Cunningham remarked later that if he had known he would find a corpse in the university coal house, he would never have gone to the arts faculty feast. But then--as Alys his betrothed replied--he would never have met ... Socrates.

In this mysterious adventure, Gil Cunningham and his colleagues are entertained by a play presented by some of the students at his old university for the Nicholas Feast. One of the actors, William Irvine, is later found murdered, and Gil, fresh from his success in solving the murder of the harper's quine, is the obvious person to investigate. Assisted by Alys and her father, Pierre, he begins to disentangle a complex web of espionage and blackmail involving William's tutors and fellow students.

First one chamber and then another is ransacked before Gil himself is attacked. It appears someone is looking for missing papers. Oddly, the late William's wolfhound pup, Socrates, now becomes a focus for attention, and matters are complicated by the arrival of Gil's formidable mother, who is determined to inspect his betrothed. Little do Alys and Gil realize that it will be she who provides the vital key to unmask the murderer and his motives.