Secret trysts, daring dalliances, and a pair of pedigreed hounds... ... keep Francis Bacon and his team busy while trying to catch a reckless murderer. It's Midsummer, 1591, at Richmond Palace, and love is in the air. Gallant courtiers sport with great ladies while Tom and Trumpet bring their long-laid plans to fruition at last. Everybody's doing it - even Francis Bacon enjoys a private liaison with the secretary to the new French ambassador. But the Queen loathes scandal and will punish anyone rash enough to get caught. Still, it's all in a summer day until a man is found dead in the orchard. The youth had few talents beyond a keen nose for gossip. He was doubtless murdered to protect a secret, but what sort? Romantic, or political? They carried different penalties - banishment from court or a traitor's death. Either way, worth killing to protect. Bacon wants nothing more than to leave things alone. He has no position and no patron; in fact, he's being discouraged from investigating. But could he live with himself if another innocent person dies?