It is the autumn of 1888. Following the successful conclusion of the investigation into the affair of the Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson have returned from Dartmoor, little realising that fate will see them back in Devon before the year is out. Holmes receives a potentially lethal package, the first strand in the tangled skein, which he will need to unravel before this new adventure is resolved. A threat to Holmes' life, murders on Hampstead Heath, and a strange phantom lady lead Holmes and Watson into the most dangerous investigation they have ever undertaken - an encounter which brings them face to face with evil itself, embodied in Count Dracula, the Lord of the Undead.

Reproduction of the original: The Tangled Skein by Baroness Orczy

This eBook edition of "The Tangled Skein" has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. The tangled skein arises from Mary's love for the Robert d'Esclade, fifth Duke of Wessex, said to be the people's choice as King Consort. Wessex is chivalrous and charming, but semi-betrothed to Lady Ursula Glynde, whom he has not seen since her infancy. Wessex is repelled by the idea of having his wife thrust upon him and purposely avoids Lady Ursula. Unknown to Wessex, the Queen jealously guards him against Ursula, who is extremely beautiful.

In The Tangled Skein, Baroness Orczy does not depict Queen Mary as darkly as she is usually depicted. Indeed, Mary is portrayed as a woman who is so passionately loving, lovable, and always swayed by justice. The skein is tangled due to Mary's rumored love for Robert d'Esclade, fifth Duke of Wessex, whom the people of England want to be King Consort. He is the embodiment of all chivalry and every virtue dear to an Englishman's heart. So far, he is fancy-free but other than deep respect for and loyalty to his Queen, he has no other feelings, and the idea of marrying her for political reasons repulses him. He is also half-betrothed, but not legally, to Lady Ursula Glynde, whom he hasn't seen since she was a baby. Wessex is repulsed by the prospect of having his wife thrust upon him in any way, and he avoids the girl on purpose, aided and abetted by the Queen, who tries jealousy to keep him from succumbing to Ursula's undoubted fascinations. When you add the powerful Cardinal Moreno and Phillip II of Spain to the mix, the skein becomes even more tangled.

Here in this third complete-in-itself novel of the Incarnations of Immortality, Piers Anthony weaves a fascinating plot as tangled as any skein of fate. This is Anthony at his most ingenious, with another gripping fantasy of the struggle of the incarnations against the machinations of Satan. When the man Niobe loved was shot, she learned that she had been the target, in a devious plot of the Devil's. Hoping for revenge. Niobe accepted a position as one of the three Aspects of Fate, only to find that Satan's plots were tangled into the very Tapestry of Fate. Now the Evil One was laying a trap to ruin Niobe's granddaughter Luna, who threatened his plans—and he had tricked her son into Hell. Niobe's only chance to save her son and Luna was to accept a challenge by the Prince of Deceit—a challenge to be decided in Hell and in a maze of Satan's devising!

The tale of Lady Ursula Glynde and her betrothed, the Duke of Wessex, beloved by Mary Queen of Scots.