This hugely enjoyable book first in the Mistress Jaffrey Mystery series is set in historic London during Queen Elizabeth's reign, where we find actors treading the boards - boards are raised on top of hogshead barrels at an inn to create a stage. Of course, no gentlewoman would frequent a playhouse so in order to watch this comical entertainment, Mistress Rosamond Jaffrey needs to go disguised and accompanied by servants.

MURDER IN THE QUEEN'S WARDROBE then shows the intrepid lady being recruited by a merchant and Royal intelligencer, Master Nicholas Baldwin, to act the part of lady in waiting to a noblewoman's daughter. A Russian nobleman is on his way to woo Lady Mary Hastings on behalf of his master the Czar of Russia. The Queen would have to give permission for Lady Mary to marry, but she does not wish to offend the Czar. Rosamond knows a little of this work, for her father was an intelligencer in his day, and she speaks several languages including basic Russian. The Czar is known as Ivan the Terrible for good reason, and he could have every Englishman in his reign arrested, including Rosamund's husband. This is the only reason she agrees to turn spy at Court.

The intrigue deepens as we follow Rosamund's merchant husband Rob to look inside the city of Moscow on the frozen river, where the Czar holds sway in the mighty fortress called the Kremlin. Back in London, my favourite scene is when Rosamund is rowed upriver alongside the spreading city and villages which of course are mere districts of London today. Rosamund has to visit the Great Wardrobe where the Queen's robes are made, and it's here that her troubles really begin.

The characters, locations and garments are vividly recreated along with the dragging boredom of a gentlewoman's normal life. The Christmas and New Year period in England and Moscow are lovingly detailed. Spiced as liberally with tension, intrigue and murder as with the scents of cloves, pomanders and Yule logs, MURDER IN THE QUEEN'S WARDROBE is a hearty, involving tale. With motives for murder both personal and political, we are royally entertained. Kathy Lynn Emerson, with several historical mysteries under her belt, has outdone herself this time and given us a doughty heroine to applaud.

Book Summary

A female spymaster will face mortal danger to protect her husband and her queen. . .

London, 1582: Mistress Rosamond Jaffrey, a talented and well-educated woman of independent means, is recruited by Queen Elizabeth I’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, to be lady-in-waiting to Lady Mary, a cousin of the queen. With her talent in languages and knowledge of ciphers and codes, she will be integral to the spymaster as an intelligence gatherer, being able to get close to Lady Mary just at the time when she is being courted by Russia’s Ivan the Terrible.

However, there are some nobles at court who will do anything they can to thwart such an alliance; and Rosamond soon realizes the extent of the danger, when a prominent official is murdered and then an attempt is made on both her and Lady Mary’s lives.

In her quest to protect her ward – and her estranged husband – Rosamond must put herself in mortal peril.