Spring, 1593. A ballad is posted in the heart of London inciting violence. The Lord Mayor offers one hundred crowns for the name of the author. Thomas Clarady wants that money and drags Francis Bacon into the game. At first it's just a riddle to be solved. Tom talks to poets, while Francis analyzes the verse.

Things take a dangerous turn when the authorities focus on two popular playmakers. One is cruelly tortured. Another is killed in dubious circumstances. Did he start a brawl that ended in tragedy? Or was he murdered by his dinner companions? The official story seems plausible, at first. But Tom doesn't buy it. Distraught at the death of his friend, he refuses stop digging, uncovering a plot he should have left buried.

Francis Bacon and his team hazard their lives and reputations to determine the truth. Whether justice can ever be obtained is another matter.