It is the turbulent summer of 1586 in England: Mary Queen of Scots is still a problem; Spain is threatening to invade; crops are rotting in the ground; Queen Elizabeth has yet to name an heir; and in Lincolnshire, Sir William Pemberton is dying. A bloodstained note suddenly thrusts orphan Caistor Parsons into the centre of the political intrigues and Catholic plots that plague Queen Elizabeth's reign. Spurred on by his love for the feisty Rosalind...