#1 – The Point of Death
London, 1594. During a performance of Romeo and Juliet, the actor playing Mercutio is killed with real steel before the audience understands that the blood is not theatrical. The playhouse has only recently reopened after plague closures, and its owners hire Master of Defence Tom Musgrave…
#2 – A Head for Murder
London, 1594. Tom Musgrave rescues a young woman from a football game on London Bridge just as the ball is replaced by a severed head rolling towards Southwark. The head has fallen from the Great Stone Gateway, where the remains of executed traitors are displayed, but…
#3 – A Midwinter Murder
Christmas 1594. Tom Musgrave leaves rehearsals for A Midsummer Night’s Dream after learning that his brother John has been found dead in the branches of an ancient oak, frozen with terror. Rumour blames the Barguest, a monstrous hound associated with the northern borders, and Tom has…
#4 – The Silent Murder
London, 1595. A messenger is attacked outside Tom Musgrave’s house and dies carrying a bloodied letter intended for the swordsman. The damaged message is a plea from Countess Cotehel, who has been unable to speak since an earlier trauma. A second servant is killed, and a…
#6 – A Verse to Murder
London, 13 January 1599. Poet and politician Edmund Spenser is found dead in his King Street lodgings. Tom Musgrave, his friend and fencing tutor, doubts that the death was natural and begins tracing poison, black magic, political grudges and threats connected to Spenser’s writings. Particular danger…