1593. Queen Elizabeth's trusted spymaster Walsingham has been dead for two years...

As plague sweeps through the streets and stews of London, so suspicion and mistrust sweep through the court and government. No one feels safe. Even the celebrated swordsman, adventurer and philanderer, Will Swyfte, must watch his back.

It is when his best friend and colleague, the playwright Christopher Marlowe, is killed in a pub brawl that Will decides he must act. The murder has all the hallmarks of an assassination. But in going in search of Kit's killer, he discovers that there are those in positions of power and influence who are not what they seem...

Against a backcloth of growing paranoia and terror, Will detects the malign machinations of England's hidden enemy, the Unseelie Court. With these devils at his back, the country's greatest spy may find that even his vaunted skills are no match for the supernatural powers arrayed against him. The choice is simple: uncover the true nature and intention of this vile conspiracy - or face the executioner's axe...