The wanton angel

Court politics threaten to lower the curtain on Lord Westfield's Men forever when the Privy Council decrees only two companies may perform in London. Disillusioned but resolute, Nicholas Bracewell meets the beautiful wanton Countess of Dartford who offers, in secret, the money to build a proper theatre that will stand his troupe a better chance of beating their rivals. But when one of his rising stars is discovered gruesomely murdered on site of the new theatre, Nicholas's troubles thicken.