Selected as Historical Crime Novel of the Year by Crime Time (London)London, 1676: when spy-turned-playwright Aphra Behn casts the Earl of Rochester's mistress Elizabeth Decker as the lead in her new comedy, she soon regrets it. Lord Rochester has bet the Duke of Buckingham that he can turn the theatrically challenged Elizabeth into the best actress on the London stage, and he's offered to cut Aphra in on his winnings. But there are other more dangerous matters afoot, and the deaths of two brothers turn out to be linked to the discovery of a secret document which could -- unless Aphra moves quickly -- plunge England into another civil war.