Let Slip the Dogs
by Anna Castle
“Secret trysts, daring dalliances, and a pair of pedigreed hounds…
… keep Francis Bacon and his team busy while trying to catch a reckless murderer.
It’s Midsummer, 1591, at Richmond Palace, and love is in the air. Gallant courtiers sport with great ladies while Tom and Trumpet bring their long-laid plans to fruition at last. Everybody’s doing it — even Francis Bacon enjoys a private liaison with the secretary to the new French ambassador. But the Queen loathes scandal and will punish anyone rash enough to get caught.
Still, it’s all in a summer day until a man is found dead in the orchard. The youth had few talents beyond a keen nose for gossip. He was doubtless murdered to keep a secret, but what sort? Romantic, or political? They carried different penalties — banishment from court or a traitor’s death. Either way, worth killing to protect.
Bacon wants nothing more than to leave things alone. He has no position and no patron; in fact, he’s being discouraged from investigating. But can he live with himself if another innocent person dies?”
(Word count 88,500; available as ebook and print)
