Synopsis

England 1575.

Ex-soldier turned play-actor Christopher Tyburn thought he had left bloodshed and violence behind him when he abandoned the war against the Spanish in Flanders, but fate has different and far bloodier plans waiting.

The innyards of London are closed due to plague and the playing troupe The Earl of Worcester’s Men are on the road, touring the market-towns of the Midlands.

When Tyburn accidentally intercepts a coded letter from a hidden Jesuit priest in Warwickshire, he is entangled in a murderous and deadly conspiracy. Stalked by unknown enemies, he must race to uncover the conspiracy and hunt down the Jesuit to clear his name. . .or die a traitor’s death. His only hope – an eleven-year old glover’s son named William Shakespeare.

This novel has been selected by the Historical Novel Society as an Editors’ Choice and Short-listed for the 2016 HNS Indie Award. It has also been selected as a Semi-Finalist for the 2016 M.M. Bennetts Award for Historical Fiction.