Essex, England

1591

To discover if her youngest sister was murdered while a prisoner in Colchester gaol, Alison Wynter contrives to be incarcerated with the women who were arrested with Sybilla for the crime of hearing Mass in Elizabethan England. Alison is certain one of them killed her, but discovering that person's identity is no simple matter.

Since she is pretending to be Catholic, Alison is released along with the others when Queen Elizabeth pardons all recusant women prisoners. Invited to accompany her suspects to Otley Manor, where Sybilla had been living, she soon learns that religion wasn't the only source of conflict in her late sister's life. Although everyone there seems to believe Sybilla was bewitched and, worse, possessed by a demon, and that the demon caused her death, Alison remains convinced that she was murdered. Even when her quest puts her own life at risk, she is determined to identify the killer.

"An enjoyable period mystery packed with tension and danger."

Historical Novels Review