In the Time of the Poisoned Queen

In England, 1558 was a year of sinister and bloody conspiracy. Queen Mary, deserted by her husband, Philip of Spain, faces an ever-tightening circle of conspiracy and deceit. Rumors and whispers abound that she, like her first minister Reginald Cardinal Pole, is being slowly murdered by some subtle poison. There are many who would benefit from Mary's death: Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France and "Mistress of the Poisons," watches and waits; beautiful Mary, Queen of Scots, heiress presumptive to the throne in the eyes of English Catholics, would be only too happy to grasp the glittering prize; Pope Paul IV surveys the silken threads of treachery from his perch in Rome; last but not least, the Queen's own half-sister, Elizabeth, takes council from her "little wizard," William Cecil. Who is behind the letters signed by the "Four Evangelists"? What is the secret concealed in the phrase "Mark 15.34"? What does a verse from the Gospels predict about the future succession of England? Nicholas Segalla, a mysterious scholar and diplomat, cursed to roam the earth for eternity, must thread his way through this web of Byzantine intrigue, not only at court, but also in the sordid alleyways and grim fastness of the Tower of London.