Nicholas Bracewell

His name was Will Fowler, an actor in the esteemed theatrical company called Lord Westfield's Men, a vibrant young man flushed from the success of a recent performance at the Queen's Head theatre. So exuberant was he that he persuaded the resourceful manager of the company, Nicholas Bracewell, to quaff a pint or two at a nearby pub. Alas, it was to be Will's last taste of beer. A tavern brawl left him dead - but not before he gasped for Nicholas to find his fast-fleeting, red-bearded murderer and administer a just revenge. Yet finding Will's murderer in London's dark, crowded streets was a seemingly impossible task - not to mention the fact that Lord Westfield's Men were just commanded to appear at the court of Elizabeth I - an honour one dare not refuse...

For Lord Westfield's Men, every high road leads to death. When the deathly horrors of the Black Plague decimate the audiences in London's theatres, the acclaimed troupe of players called Lord Westfield's Men take to the high road to seek out fresh audiences. But wherever they go, they are thwarted by misfortune, and are baffled by mysteries. Their scripts are stolen, their players abducted. A dead man walks, and a beautiful woman hears the voice of God. Only one man is clever enough to match swords with the troupe's burgeoning troubles. Upon Nicholas Bracewell, the company's bookholder and mainstay, falls the burden that may cost him his life - as they head for an ancient inn called the Trip to Jerusalem, where the last act of a bloody drama is about to begin.

Who could enact such a deadly design, lurking behind the scenes? As book holder and stage manager of theatrical company Lord Westfield's Men, Nicholas Bracewell is accustomed to solving problems. So when he discovers the naked corpse of a man while crossing the Thames by boat one night, he becomes determined to unravel its mystery. After several attacks on the company's members, Nicholas begins to suspect a connection - could these apparently accidental events be part of some hidden design? When Lord Westfield's Men are asked to stage one of their comedies at the Nine Giants in Richmond, Nicholas must put aside his worries and focus on the play. But as the attacks become more sinister, culminating in a grisly death, Nicholas is under increasing pressure to prevent more disaster...

A vicious rivalry threatens to cause chaos for Lord Westfield's Men when the onstage duels between Owen Elias and Sebastian Carrick become ever more realistic. However, it is an axe that splits open Sebastian's head one night in a Clerkenwell alley. Company book holder Nicholas Bracewell, accustomed to damage control, begins to investigate the victim's death and learns that in life, he was prone to make enemies from his weakness for women and his unwillingness to settle his debts. A web of deception has in fact been spun that stretches from lowly to high ranking courtesans, all the way to the Virgin Queen.

When fire destroys their London theatre, Lord Westfield's players must seek out humbler venues in the countryside. But company manager Nicholas Bracewell is distracted by a shocking tragedy: a mysterious messenger from his native Devon is murdered by poison. Though the messenger is silenced, Nicholas understands what he must do: return to his birthplace and reconcile some unfinished business of the past.

The rest of Westfield's Men, penniless and dejected, ride forth with him on a nightmare tour that will perhaps become their valedictory, dogged as they are by plague, poverty, rogues, and thieves. And among the sinister shadows that glide silently with them toward Devon is one who means Nicholas never to arrive...

When Nicholas Bracewell finds himself in the parlour of his lost love, Anne Hendrik, he is not expecting her entreaties to embroil him in the murder of a beloved choir master. Between tales of cruelty, forgotten maps of London and a butcher determined to rescue his son, it is yet another mystery for the book holder to untangle. But will his quest endanger Lord Westfield's Men? As the troupe's latest play threatens to break them apart beneath the playwright's own belligerent ribaldry, the shadow of the hangman stalks ever closer. And with every step his laughter rings with the power to turn even the hallowed stage into a gallows.