
It’s Christmas time at the Elizabethan court! For fans of S J Parris, Andrew Taylor, S W Perry and Andrew Swanston.

It’s Christmas time at the Elizabethan court! For fans of S J Parris, Andrew Taylor, S W Perry and Andrew Swanston.
The most chaotic time of the year…
Christmas, 1561
Queen Elizabeth’s courtiers are decorating Whitehall Palace and preparing for twelve days of festive food, masques and revelry.
But Lady Catrin Surovell, Countess of Ashbourne, cannot find her celebratory spirit.
The queen has asked her to stop a brute who has forced the waifs of London to work for him. The boys are being beaten or killed if they don’t help him extort money from the wealthy.
And it seems the brute may be someone at court.
But Catrin’s attempts to find him are disturbed by a mischief-maker who is taking every opportunity to ruin the Christmas festivities, leaving the queen in great distress.
At each scene of chaos Catrin finds a perfume bottle, all with their own unique scent.
Is the disruption linked to the brute at court? Or is someone else hell-bent on destroying the queen’s festivities?
And can Catrin solve both mysteries before someone ends up in grave danger…?