P. F Chisholm

Sir Robert Carey's night patrol is a disaster. First there's the fugitive he has to hand over to the Scots (the unsettled border of 1592 is no place to argue with a large party of armed men). His temper isn't improved by Wee Colin Elliot's sheep stealers. But the final unacceptable event of the black night is the exploding gun that takes the hand off one of his own men. Back in Carlisle, he discovers that this was not the only faulty weapon; the armory...

Carlisle in 1592 is one of the most dangerous parts of Queen Elizabeth's kingdom, where the law of the Scots gives way to the law of the English, often leaving gaps where there is no law at all. Sir Robert Carey, the new deputy warden of the West March, must solve a murder and avert a minor civil war.

After his hair-raising adventures in London, Sir Robert Carey has finally tracked down Queen Elizabeth, 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 1560 death of Amy Dudley (née Robsart), unloved wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester....

September 1592 - and the redoubtable Sergeant Dodd is still in London with that dashing courtier Sir Robert Carey, dealing with the fall-out from their earlier adventures. Carey urgently needs to get back to Carlisle where he is the Deputy Warden and the raiding season is about to begin.