Set in 14th Century London during the time of the Great Pestilence, "The Rat-Taker" is about an obsessive love and a tragic event coiled into one mystery.

Simon the Rat-Taker, or, as he came to called, Simon Ratiker, is a man obsessed by a terrible event that he cannot wholly remember. Driven by the question, "What did happen?" Simon attempts to recall the truth by dictating to his scribe the events of the day that became the cross point of his life: "the day the rats began to die."

In the course of his duties, Simon's scribe, Jonathan Purchell, senses something evil, something...