<p>Autumn,1646. The First Civil War is over, and England licks its wounds. But the killing is not yet done.</p><p> </p><p> William Falkland, former favourite of King Charles turned reluctant investigator for Oliver Cromwell, seeks his missing family. Time and again his hopes are destroyed. Then a figure from his past catches up with him - Cromwell is not finished with his intelligencer. Summoned to London, Falkland is introduced to a young man of letters - a polemicist and pamphleteer by the name of John Milton. His cherished sister Anne has vanished, apparently abducted by supporters of the king. </p><p> </p><p> Falkland's task - to identify the culprit and return Anne unharmed - will lead him to a brutal murder buried in the maelstrom of the War, to a ruined Lincolnshire manor house, and to a secret that must be snuffed out at all costs.</p>