From the acclaimed author of THE DESPERATE REMEDY ('A terrific book' The Spectator), comes the fourth novel in the series featuring gentleman spy Henry Gresham. 1598, and Elizabeth I is growing old. Her Court shivers with intrigue as to who will claim the throne when she dies - the Spanish, King James I of Scotland or the upstart Earl of Essex? One man who has inside knowledge of Court is the young Henry Gresham, together with his manservant Mannion and beautiful ward, Jane. Commanded by Robert Cecil to deliver a mysterious letter, and ever watchful of the Earl of Essex's increasingly erratic behaviour, he soon becomes swept up in a battle for power that takes him to all corners of the British Isles, and close to death ...