‘A vividly told tale full of violence and intrigue with characters that burst off the page. Historical fiction rarely gets more detailed, gripping and impressively accurate than this.’ Peter Tonkin, author of Shadow of Treason

1592.

The Reformation has engulfed the Holy Roman Empire. The power of Catholic church is not what it was.

At St James’s Monastery in Ratisbon, its Scottish Abbot, Ninian Winzet, dies.

Brother Gunther, a young Bavarian monk, discovers a hidden vault in Winzet’s scriptorium containing Winzet’s deathbed confessions.

The revelations are shocking. If made public, they could not only ruin the late Abbot’s reputation but also harm the monastery and the whole Benedictine Order.

Winzet, a Scot by birth, tells a tragic story of Mary Stewart, a catholic queen in protestant Scotland, hounded to death by opponents both within and outside her kingdom.

Having sworn to protect her and failing to deliver on his pledge, Winzet dedicates his life to exposing her enemies. But they are influential and practised at concealing their crimes. They are also unscrupulous and will stop at nothing.

When Mary’s husband, King Henry, is assassinated, she is framed for his murder, imprisoned and forced to abdicate. She flees to England – only to be imprisoned by her cousin, the Queen Elizabeth.

Winzet’s dogged investigation leads him to the real killers and their paymasters. But what recourse is there for justice?

Thwarted in his efforts, the Abbot embarks on a mission of bloody revenge to exact his own version of justice on the men who destroyed his queen.

Gunther is resolved to keep Winzet’s confessions secret, but he discovers that is not the only person who knows of their existence.