Cadfael, a Benedictine monk of the nearby Shrewsbury Abbey discovers a murdered man hidden amongst the slain.

He also has to help a young girl escape the siege, and discover the motives of Hugh Beringar – her betrothed fiancé.

When the novel was first published, the author was remarked for her knowledge of the historical era and ability to create it for the reader, yet "she never lets the meticulously researched place-and-time interfere with the canny puzzle, the flesh-and-blood characterization, or the sharp tension.

Abbot Heribert of Shrewsbury Abbey offers to give Christian burial to the victims; King Stephen assents.

FitzAlan ordered squires Faintree and Torold Blund to slip out of the castle to take his treasury to safety in Wales, then to Normandy.

They hide the treasure in a tree that will be on the road to Wales, then swing back to approach the grange on the usual path.

A beggar tells Cadfael events seen the night before the castle fell: Giles Siward slipped into the siege camp and betrayed FitzAlan's plan to the officer of the watch, Courcelle, in exchange for his life.

Beringar recalls Aline's mention of the family heirloom dagger lost when Giles was hanged.

He sees a kitchen boy eating his own meal with Giles' missing dagger, fished from the Severn.

With Beringar vindicated by fate, King Stephen appoints him Deputy Sheriff of Shropshire in Courcelle's place.

Cadfael, now his firm friend, gives him Giles's dagger, which has been restored by craftsmen at the Abbey, for Aline.

The story takes place during The Anarchy, a term referring to the 19-year civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud, from 1135 to 1153.

King Stephen, William Fitz-Alan, his uncle Arnulf of Hesdin, Abbot Heribert, and Prior Robert Pennant are all real people.

Son of Alan fitz Flaad, baron of Oswestry, William FitzAlan was appointed Sheriff in 1137 by King Stephen.

FitzAlan, with roots in that border area, had a relationship with Owain Gwynedd so he or his messengers could ask for the prince's protection to ride across to a port and seek ship for Normandy.

Trial by combat, used at the end to settle the guilt of Courcelle on one count of murder and another of theft not fit for an officer and gentleman, was used in England in the Middle Ages, especially from the time of the Norman conquest to the reign of King Henry II, who introduced a more efficient system of jury trials, but extending to the 16th century.

Kirkus Reviews finds the author has improved on the first book with this novel: A second, even smoother medieval adventure for Brother Cadfael (A Morbid Taste for Bones)—once a Crusader and man of the world, now an accomplished herbalist at the monastery in 12th-century Shrewsbury, a town racked by civil war.

King Stephen has conquered, his enemies have all been massacred, but—while preparing these nameless bodies for Christian burial—Cadfael finds one to be the victim of a more personal sort of murder.

And his ambivalent cohort in detection is valiant Hugh Beringar, whose hand-to-hand combat with the murderer wraps things up with a zing.

Peters (who writes full-blown historicals as Edith Pargeter) makes the most of the medieval atmosphere, but she never lets the meticulously researched place-and-time interfere with the canny puzzle, the flesh-and-blood characterization, or the sharp tension.

[18] There are seven hardback publications including the first in 1979, and about two dozen paperback editions of this book, in English, published in the UK or the US, listed at Fantastic Fiction.

The Cadfael series eventually extended to thirteen 75-minute episodes, all of which starred Sir Derek Jacobi as the sleuthing monk.

It was directed by Graham Theakson, the screenplay was by Russell Lewis, and the cast featured Sean Pertwee as Hugh Beringar, Christian Burgess as Adam Courcelle and Michael Grandage as King Stephen.

The adaptation for One Corpse Too Many stuck closely to the original novel, with only minor plot or script deviations to cater for the different medium.

The book was also adapted for BBC Radio 4 in 1990, starring Glyn Houston as Brother Cadfael and Geoffrey Whitehead as Adam Courcelle.