Despite evenings of banquets and dancing, the European delegates attending Her Majestys holiday festivities are less interested in peace on earth than they are in fostering mistrust. Kate, the queens personal musician, hopes she can keep the royal guests entertained. But then Queen Elizabeth receives a most unwanted giftan anonymous letter that threatens to reveal untoward advances from her beloved Queen Catherines last husband, Thomas Seymour. Tasked with finding the extortionist, Kate has barely begun investigating when one of Spains visiting lords is found murdered. With two mysteries to unravel and an unsettling number of suspects to consider, Kate finds herself caught between an unscrupulous blackmailer and a cold-blooded killer....