Death of a Lady's Maid — Judith Cook

When a wherryman hauls the body of a young girl out of the River Thames early one morning in June 1591, he takes her to the renowned medical practitioner and horoscope caster Dr Simon Forman at his home on the Bankside. To his surprise, Forman recognises the girl immediately. Four months earlier, Eliza had visited him demanding to have her horoscope cast. Now, as Forman examines her lifeless body, he discovers she was three months pregnant and her death was no suicide...

In her pocket lies a gold pendant engraved with a coat of arms and, aided by his burly manservant John Bradedge, Forman traces the pendant to the home of Sir Wolford Barnes in Bishopsgate. Eliza was a lady's maid to Sir Wolford's beautiful daughter, Olivia, and Forman is convinced that the solution to her murder lies therein. Gradually he unravels the complexities of the case -- but not before his own life is put at risk...