Treason and Plot: William Shakespeare turns detective in the Gunpowder Plot mystery

Queen Elizabeth is dying without an heir. The Tudor dynasty is ending and the threat of civil war looms large, as contenders for the throne jockey for favour.

Robert Cecil, the queen’s spymaster, is in secret talks, however, to make James VI of Scotland the next king of England, too, uniting the two oft-hostile kingdoms into one realm. But his agents in the negotiations are being murdered, one after the other.

Whispers of a Catholic assassin, part of a conspiracy to seat a Catholic monarch on England’s throne after decades of Protestantism, reach Cecil’s ears. He needs someone to infiltrate the Catholic underground and identify the killer. Someone like William Shakespeare.

But for Will, James as king could spell disaster. There is no theatre in Scotland and no actors. The king believes fervently in witches. Would James spell the end of Shakespeare’s livelihood? Could Will have more in common with the Catholic position than Cecil’s?

A dark mystery set at the end of an era, as Shakespeare’s life and loyalties are threatened, and the seeds for Macbeth are sown. A chilling tale you are sure to remember, remember.