8 February 1601. The personal troops of a disgraced royal favourite mount up and ride on the City of London. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex and his lieutenant, Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton are in open revolt against Queen Elizabeth I and her Government.

Richard Palmer is swept up in the action. He calls himself an investigator, others call him an informer. Chief Minister Cecil has need for one - the Queen is enraged by the revival of a play at the Globe about deposing a reigning monarch in favour of a populist rival. Was Richard II meant to get the mob in the mood for regicide? She thinks so.

A handful of sonnets found in Southampton's lodgings show a potentially incriminating special bond between him and the play's author, William Shakespeare. Palmer sets off on an expanding trail of sonnets from London to Stratford, and a mystery pursuer is on his tail...

Chris Crowcroft travelled the world as an army brat. A degree in Law at Oxford University and teaching English in Verona preceded a London career in the arts and in politics. In 2009 he helped save the roof falling in on the head of Shakespeare where he lies buried in Stratford-upon-Avon.