Shadowed by his rival, the Queen's chief torturer, Shakespeare travels through an underworld of spies, sorcerers, whores, and theater people---including his younger brother, the struggling playwright Will---to piece together a complex conspiracy, the implications of which are almost too horrific to contemplate. For a zealous and cunning killer is stalking England's streets. And as Shakespeare threatens to reveal the madman�s identity, he and the beautiful woman he desires come ever closer to becoming the next martyrs to the cause.