Waiting on Wednesday (34)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.  So here's a thing I'm looking forward to: Air of Treason, by P.F. Chisholm (Poisoned Pen Press, 4 February 2014).

After his hair-raising adventures in London, Sir Robert Carey has finally tracked down the Queen who is about to make a state visit to Oxford. But instead of giving him his much-needed warrant and fee for being Deputy Warden of the West March with Scotland, Her Majesty orders him to investigate the most dangerous cold case of her reign - the mysterious death of Amy Dudley nee Robsart, unloved wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the Queen's long ago favourite suitor and potential husband. Since the Queen herself is one of the most obvious suspects for Amy's murder, Carey is not happy about this. And then somebody nearly manages to poison him with belladonna which blinds him temporarily. Worse still, Sergeant Dodd has totally disappeared on the road from London. As the Queen's scandalous past collides with her magnificent State entrance into Oxford, can Carey recover from being blinded by poison in time to find both Dodd and the true murderer of Amy Robsart?

Cover and description from Fantastic Fiction.

*****

I read the first four Robert Carey books a lot closer to their publication date, back when I lived in North Carolina, and was so fascinated by the setting on the notoriously lawless 16th-century Scottish border that I went on to read George MacDonald Fraser's history book on the subject, The Steel Bonnets (highly recommended, and don't skip the appendix with the complete text of the Archbishop of Glasgow's Monition of Cursing). So I was pretty excited a couple of years ago when, after a twelve-year hiatus, there was suddenly a fifth book in the series; and now a sixth one is coming out, huzzah. Should be good!