This is a fantastic book which manages to combine a great murder mystery into a middle-ages world that holds several leaders of history and not only that but the story is told through the eyes of a young Elizabeth I, one of the world's most iconic female leaders of all time.

Elizabeth I gets a chance to travel to Constantinople to a world chess tournament with her treasured mentor, Roger Ascham. She takes a long Elsie, her companion who cares more about boys and dresses than she does about chess and world politics unlike a much younger Elizabeth. It's not long before Ascham and Bess get caught up in a murder mystery after a cardinal is found murdered in the Sultan's own palace.

The reader ends up on an adventure, solving things along with the duo and seeing a world in which possibly shaped Elizabeth into the Virgin Queen she became. We heard conversations with scholars talking about the worth of a woman and the power she can have, all of which Elizabeth one day proved to be true.

I found this a captivating tale of both mystery and adventure. I would recommend it to any historic fiction lovers and indeed those who love a good crime/mystery novel!