‘The Traitor’s Tale’ by Margaret Frazer.
Published by Robert Hale  30th June 2008.
ISBN 978-0-7090-8590-4

The Traitor's Tale is set in the summer of 1450, mutinous factions, determined to unseat King Henry VI have been staging uprisings throughout England. Political machinations, beheadings, riots, and stabbings abound as Dame Frevisse leaves her cloister at St. Frideswide's nunnery to comfort her cousin. Lady Alice has recently been widowed by the brutal murder of her husband, the Duke of Suffolk. But the late Duke was so hated that even being in the presence of his corpse is unsafe. Several of her retainers are missing or murdered. One of the missing is Burgate, her husband's secretary and there are tales that the Duke of Suffolk wrote dangerous letters shortly before his murder that were entrusted to Burgate, but no one seems to know where he is. If charges of treason are brought against Suffolk, Lady Alice fears her son will be disinherited. She needs more than emotional support and spiritual guidance from Frevisse, who has  "a skill at finding things out".
Wandering player turned spy, Simon Joliffe, is on a mission to find vital information for the exiled Duke of York: a list naming the English noblemen who purportedly betrayed their King by conspiring with the French. This list includes some of Suffolk's men whom Joliffe has been seeking and found dead.
Simon Joliffe teams up with Frevisse and Vaughn a retainer of Lady Alice to find Burgate. Frevisse begins to wonder whether or not the list is real or part of a larger conspiracy against the crown. Joliffe gets caught up in a lot of violence, which he abhors. He is a trusted servant of the Duke of York and speculates as to whether the letters will help or hinder his employer.

The book is rather slow moving at first, with perhaps the author interested more in the history rather than moving the story along, though there is more action later in the book
Fans of historical fiction will also find much here to enjoy
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Sue Lord
Note: This is 16th in the series of Dame Frevisse Medieval Mysteries, the first book was published in 1992; The Novice’s Tale. To begin with, ‘Margaret Frazer’ was two people, both interested in writing and in medieval England. After six novels, Mary Pulver Kuhfeld was tired of the series and Gail Frazer continued. (Mary Pulver Kuhfeld also writes as 'Mary Monica Pulver' and under the pseudonym ´Monica Ferris.´) During their collaboration, the authors worked together by first laying out the general idea of a story. Then the ‘Frazer’ half of the team developed the plot and characters in detail and wrote the first draft. The ‘Margaret’ half then re-worked that into a second draft, the ‘Frazer’ half re-worked that, and then they did the final draft together.
Frazer has written a second set of mysteries, also set in 15th century England, featuring an actor and spy named Joliffe. Joliffe is a minor character in several of the mysteries of the Dame Frevisse series.
A play of Isaac written in 2004 is the first of the Jolife series, there are four books so far.