Jack Mountjoy wants nothing more than a quiet life. A small-town solicitor in Stratford-upon-Avon, he spends his time untangling the consequences of bad decisions and broken marriages, while trying to recover from his own.

But when a mysterious death and the arrival of a wealthy banker draw him into a centuries-old secret, Jack finds himself at the centre of an international power struggle. Hidden among an illegitimate bloodline, a forgotten diary, a codicil and a lock of hair lies the power to change everything the world believes about William Shakespeare.

As the search for the truth takes him from Stratford to London and the French Riviera, Jack must decide whether to embrace his role in the mystery or be buried by it.