The Study Of Murder pits Scottish sleuth Muirteach MacPhee against a mysterious adversary in medieval Oxford. Muirteach and his wife Mariota accompany the Lord of the Isles'' son, Donald, to Oxford. Shortly after their arrival, a winsome tavern maid disappears. Muirteach attempts to help Undersheriff Grymbaud with the investigation and keep Donald at his studies, while Mariota yearns to attend medical lectures at the schools. When an Oxford master is found bludgeoned to death, Grymbaud asks Muirteach to investigate. The arrest of a servant for the crime stirs up discord between town and university, and Mariota vanishes. Gleaning clues from a cryptic manuscript, a determined Muirteach tracks a wily killer through a twisted labyrinth of deceit.