The Queen's Man takes place in medieval England, during the unsettled winter of 1192-93. The ship bringing Richard the Lionhearted home from the Third Crusade has been reported wrecked at sea, but news of the King's survival has not yet reached Britain. In his absence his mother, the famous Eleanor of Aquitaine, has been overseeing his kingdom. But his brother John is building his own army and plans to rule. Meanwhile, the Holy Roman Emperor and King Philip of France find it serves their purposes to keep the English wondering about Richard's fate.

These events undergird the novel's background, and also the mystery that Justin, its main character, must solve. Riding away from Winchester in the midst of a blizzard, he stumbles upon a robbery and murder in progress. The victim, a goldsmith named Gervase Fitz Randolph, gives Justin a sealed letter to deliver to Queen Eleanor, then...