Exmoor, 1800. When farmer's daughter Peggy Shawe meets the charismatic Ralph Duggan, son of a so-called "free trader", it's love at first sight. Determined to prevent the match, Peggy's widowed mother sends her daughter to live with the Duggans for six weeks, believing she will be put off marriage to Ralph when she discovers what life is like among a smuggling family. Matters take a dramatic turn however when Ralph's brother Philip is suspected...

When the queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, learns Ursula is to visit her relatives in Devon, he asks her to find out what has happened to two of his local agents, who have been strangely silent. On arrival in Devon, Ursula learns both men have met with mysterious, and fatal, accidents.

April, 1590. Ursula Stannard, the queen's half-sister and occasional secret agent, has just left Sir Francis Walsingham's funeral when she is summoned back to her childhood home, Faldene House, by her aunt. Uncle Herbert has died suddenly from natural causes, but Ursula's arrival in the Sussex Downs triggers a shocking sequence of death and devastation. Through her service to the queen, Ursula has made dangerous enemies. The formidable Mercer brothers...

"August, 1582. The queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, has ordered Ursula to keep an eye on her new neighbor, Giles Frost, who is rumoured to be spying for King Philip of Spain. Arriving at Knoll House on the pretext of teaching his two daughters embroidery, Ursula's secret mission is to feed false information to Frost to pass on to the Spanish. Walsingham has assured Ursula that she'll be in no danger. But events take a decidedly sinister...

In London, a Catholic plot is brewing against Queen Elizabeth I. Luckily for the Protestant monarch, the plot is uncovered by her lady-in-waiting, Ursula Blanchard, a young widow making her debut as a sleuth. First in a series.