Elaborate care has been taken in capturing the political entanglements, alliances and brutality of the treason trials that defined this era. The characters are all intricately connected by the various false accusations, racial prejudices and social discrimination against any success that put you close to the queen. Lopez, a Portuguese Jew, regardless of being a man of substance and a renowned anatomist, is persecuted and executed brutally. Nicolas Shelby is the next to be accused and we are given a glimpse that this is more connected to his exotic, Italian wife that works at an apothecary. The exploit and sinister way he is questioned, leaves the reader convinced of the hopelessness of his defence. A cultivating period peace that displays social anxiety and manipulation of the political persuasions perfectly.