Mistress Rosamond Jaffrey is summoned to Cornwall and finds herself embroiled in an investigation involving smugglers, piracy - and rumours of treason. June, 1584. On hearing news of the sudden death of her stepfather, Sir Walter Pendennis, Rosamond Jaffrey must leave London for Cornwall to look after the interests of her young half-brother and try to mend her strained relationship with their mother. However, on arriving in Cornwall, Rosamond makes the shocking discovery that Sir Walter was in fact murdered - and reluctantly she agrees to work with an agent of the queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, in order to unmask the killer. Rosamond's investigations will lead her into a dangerous maelstrom of smuggling, piracy - and rumours of treason.