When Reg and Mavis Holmes advertised for a lodger, several applicants retreated as soon as they heard there was a young baby in the house. But Miss Trubb's reaction was different: When she had seen the pram in the hall and Mavis had told her about Joy, her stern, rather lifeless features had glowed with a sudden radiance, and inner happiness that shone in her faded eyes and trembled in her voice. But the peaceful, happy days of this young couple and their baby are soon to be shattered. How can Miss Trubb's interest in their new baby be as innocent as it seems? For Reg and Mavis soon learn that they've entrusted their blooming six month old daughter to the protection of a convicted child-killer.....

Scandal at the court of James I. Katharine Leslie, young, ambitious, and scornful of her role as scholar's wife, is drawn irresistibly to the glamour of the Stuart court. Alan Carr, brother of the king's favourite, has long desired her - and makes no secret of his intention to possess her. Frances Howard, beautiful and sinister Countess of Essex, uses Katharine's weakness to further her romantic intrigue - a plot which results in one of the most treacherous murders of history.