FRESHWATER BAY PRESS

Arbella's Baby by Margaret Martin is a Jacobean mystery based on the life and times of the Lady Arbella Stuart, born too close to the throne.

1623. The Clerk of Appearances at the Court of Star Chamber begins an inquiry into the death of Arbella's maid, said to have witnessed the birth of Arbella's love-child.

When a second body is found in a 'priest-hole', in circumstances casting doubts on the legitimacy of the Jacobean regime, a disgraced former Lord Chancellor sees a chance to reinstate himself. His stratagems to regain power change the course of the inquiry.

A strange manuscript concerning Arbella's life is found and deciphered. It includes an account of her last, desperate love affair - an elopement that promised her freedom, but left her imperilled by conspiracies and the prospect of civil war... The inquiry comes to a chilling end.