Pirates in Penzance? Queen Elizabeth's half-sister and secret agent Ursula Blanchard takes on a dangerous new mission involving mysterious disappearances and murder in Cornwall in this gripping Tudor mystery.

1594. Ursula Stannard is attending on her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth, when she receives an urgent summons from Sir Robert Cecil. Cornishman Master Roskilly was fished out of the sea by Sir Francis Godolphin, and has a shocking tale of being snatched by pirates and put on a slave vessel to Constantinople before his audacious escape. And he's not the only one . . . Folk in Cornwall are mysteriously disappearing. But why are only exceptional or unusual individuals being kidnapped, and could there be a link to two recent murders?

With the queen's annual progress stalled, Ursula agrees to go undercover to unmask those responsible, knowing that Queen Elizabeth would be the most prized captive of all . . .