Meanwhile, the mysterious Joliffe is trying to find out who plotted with the duke before he was murdered to make sure that the English finally lose their hundred-year battle with the French. But the duke's confidants are being picked off one by one. Frevisse quickly sees the danger to anyone who might have evidence that would incriminate the duke's highly placed co-conspirators. The turbulent political situation makes it almost impossible for the duchess to find any road to safety.

When Nicholas Vaughn, a devoted servant of the endangered woman, sees Joliffe at the scene of one murder, and then finds him close to another, he drags Joliffe back to the castle as a likely suspect in the killings. Frevisse knows Joliffe from an earlier crime scene, however, and has found him trustworthy in the past. Joliffe himself is wary of the duchess and her retinue, and she is suspicious of him. Joliffe admits he's working for the Duke of York, the heir apparent to King Henry's throne, and the duchess fears that York will be as dangerous to her as the plotters are. Still, they conclude they have no choice but to work together.

The trail of the conspirators leads all over the country, from one murder to the next, and the hunters find indications of guilt pointing to men in the highest offices in the land. Joliffe, badly wounded in the chase, barely escapes with his life.

Frazer makes her characters live. Joliffe, once a strolling player, can and does use his talent to pick up information wherever it lies. The duchess, torn between her fears of the conspirators and the danger that may come if their identities are discovered, shows her mettle and stifles her doubts. As a nun, Frevisse is forced to play a part she abhors, but she accepts the responsibility thrown upon her and uses her sharp intelligence to help Joliffe track the villains.

In this, her sixteenth mystery, Frazer once again shows her remarkable ability to lead her readers through the thickets of medieval history. She knows the period, and provides settings that take us back to a time that makes ours look placid. The book opens with Joliffe an unwilling warrior against Jack Cade's infamous rebellion. The convent, the castles, the frightening trips thorough forests infested with killers, and set pieces like the entrance of the Duke of York through the gates of St. Alban's, all ring true.

Moreover, as Frazer shows in her appendix, this story is built on more than her imagination; many of her characters were actual historical figures, and the story could have happened just as she tells it. For readers who have any interest in historical mysteries, this book is a winner.