BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Rory Clements's Revenger.

A young woman is found murdered, her body marked with profane symbols. Even more shocking, she’s one of Queen Elizabeth’s aristocratic cousins. Is there a connection between this tragedy and a plot to assassinate Sir Francis Drake—a plot that, if successful, could leave England defenseless in the face of a Spanish invasion?

Enter John Shakespeare, Tudor England’s most remarkable investigator. With the Queen’s brilliant reign in jeopardy, Shakespeare travels through London’s seedy underworld of spies, sorcerers, prostitutes, and theater people, among whom is his own younger brother, the struggling playwright Will.

Shadowed by his relentless rival, the Queen’s chief torturer, John Shakespeare must unmask the shocking identity of a killer before the woman he desires becomes the next martyr in a conspiracy almost too horrific to contemplate—a conspiracy whose consequences might still be felt today.