1587. After three long years, exiled from home and family, and drawn
into the depths of the London underworld under the tutelage of Elizabeth
I's spymaster Francis Walsingham, Hew returns to Scotland with his new
English wife, Frances.
The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots has unleashed a torrent of
anti-English sentiment in the Scottish people and fear in King James VI,
jeopardising Hew's now unlawful marriage. However, the king invites Hew
to investigate the perplexing meaning of a death's head painting that
has come into his possession. What does it symbolise, and is it a
message from his dead mother? Are the local painters all that they
appear?
If Hew solves the mystery, his marriage to Frances will be blessed. The
stakes have never been higher as he embarks on a quest for love and
life.
Queen & Country is the fifth Hew Cullan Mystery by Shirley McKay.