In 1663, England is rife with unrest and intrigue following the civil war. King Charles II faces threats and conspiracies, and an encrypted letter that was thought to be lost could have serious consequences. A story of betrayal, death, and honor is told through four manuscripts, each belonging to a witness. In Oxford, a mysterious murder occurs, and four unreliable narrators—a physicist from Italy, the son of a traitor to the Crown, a famous codebreaker, and an antiquarian—tell their versions of what happened. Ian Pearce created a gripping detective story with an unpredictable ending, using real historical events as the basis for his intelligent text.