The Jethart House

In the Border town of Jedburgh stands the Queen's House. In 1565 Mary, Queen of Scots, came to hold an Assize, but was driven from the Spread Eagle tavern to the House by a malicious fire. Did someone intend to murder the Queen? Mary rode to Hermitage where her presumed lover, James Hepburn, Earl Bothwell lived, but returned the same day. Why? I was intrigued. Was she running into his arms or running away? From the bench where I sat in the House garden, I borrowed a brother and sister from a school group and the story began. When Detective Constable Susan Duffy views a CCTV tape from a Newcastle charity shop burglary, she is shocked, but no one at her chauvinistic station can be bothered. Then two teenagers disappear after visiting the House and Susan pursues the villain who moves through time to kill everyone in his path who would reveal the truth of an age-old mystery. 'In my ending is my beginning,' as Mary Stuart wrote. In the ending of this story is the beginning of something extraordinary.