A Play of Treachery — Margaret Frazer

In the pages of Margaret Frazer's national bestselling Dame Frevisse Mysteries, the player Joliffe has assumed many roles on stage, to the delight of those he entertains. Now, in the company of a troupe of traveling performers, he finds himself cast in the role of sleuth...

In agreeing to serve the powerful Bishop Beaufort, Joliffe and his players have made what could become a deal with the devil. It surely seems so in the winter of 1436, when the Bishop sends Joliffe alone to France and into the middle of a war.

There, Joliffe is to act as a servant to the duchess Jacquetta of Bedford -- young, beautiful, and recently widowed. But his real mission is to train as a spy under the late duke's spymaster, and he soon finds that all the wealth of a widow's household is no defense against murder, a city's walls no defense against enemies within -- and not only men can serve as spies.