In this third book of the Simon & Elizabeth Mysteries, Elizabeth Tudor is declared a traitor and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Visiting the princess secretly, her friend Simon Maldon discovers another cause for worry. His friend Peto the Pope has been arrested for a murder he swears he did not commit. As Simon frets over Elizabeth's peril and Peto's certain execution, his wife Hannah deals with her own mystery after taking in a frightened pregnant girl who, she later learns, is not as she first seemed. Neither Simon nor Hannah pays attention to the other's problems, although they should. Matters spin quickly into grave danger, and they both might die as they try their best to save the lives of others.