Robert Cecil, Chief Secretary to the King, summons the gentleman spy Henry Gresham to his deathbed to give his arch enemy one final, deadly case. An unknown Cambridge bookseller has obtained devastating correspondence between King James I and Robert Carr, and Gresham is the one man who can return the letters, saving the monarch from a potentially scandalous downfall. Also in the bookseller's possession are two stolen manuscripts by Shakespeare. And just as these plays contain a deadly secret, so too does Gesham's mission. For Gresham is being used as live bait to draw out a murderous madman who is determined to destroy James I...