Alex escapes the battlefield. Kate is already regretting her arranged marriage. They meet in unusual circumstances, but murder and mystery means romance must wait.
Set in 1485 against the aftermath of the Battle of Bosworth, Satin Cinnabar is both an off-beat historical romance and a straight forward murder-mystery-adventure. His cause lost, Alex goes into hiding since the conquered lords once loyal to King Richard are in danger of losing their heads by order of the Tudor monarch. The Lady Katherine, having heard tales of marauding soldiers both vanquished and victorious, is dressed for greater safety as a boy. She and Alex, both in disguise, meet in unusual circumstances. But Alex’s cousin, newly pardoned and released from the Tower, is discovered murdered. The particular circumstances of his death put Alex under considerable suspicion. The parish priest believes Alex guilty and he gives evidence against Alex, leading to his arrest and incarceration in Newgate – a veritable hell then. Discovering the true murderer, overcoming his enemies, and convincing Katherine that marriage with the right person might be an excellent prospect after all, involves Alex for the rest of the book. The background details the confusion of medieval London’s back alleys and sewerage ridden river, the diverse, quarrelsome population, and all the inevitable power struggle, politics and turmoil accompanying the very beginning of the new Tudor dynasty.