After his hair-raising adventures in London, Sir Robert Carey has finally tracked down the Queen who is about to make a state visit to Oxford. But instead of giving the Courtier his much-needed warrant and fee for being Deputy Warden of the West March with Scotland, Her Majesty orders him to investigate the most dangerous cold case of her reign – the mysterious death in 1560 of Amy Dudley, née Robsart, unloved wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Dudley, now dead, was, some thirty years back, Elizabeth’s favorite suitor and potential husband, to the dismay of her ministers. Amy died at Cumnor Place, close at hand. Since the Queen is one of the most obvious suspects in arranging Amy's murder, Carey is deeply uneasy with his sleuthing role, the more so as his father, Elizabeth’s cousin from the wrong side of the blanket, is clearly involved. Then somebody nearly manages to poison Carey with belladonna which temporarily blinds him. Worse still, Sergeant Dodd, the man most often guarding Carey’s back, has totally disappeared on the road from London. As the Queen's scandalous past collides with her magnificent State entrance into Oxford, can Carey rally in time to find both Dodd and the true murderer of Amy Robsart?" Sixth in a brilliant Elizabethan series so immersive the reader hates to exit the age, and much loved by Diana Gabaldon, Sharon Kay Penman, and Dana Stabenow.