Shakespeare's Secrets

Returning from a play one late summer evening, Ariadne Caulfield and Judith Sheridan are caught in a heavy downpour. At the house they find things wrong: the porch light is dead, the side door stands open, and the rooms have been turned upside down. Stepping inside with caution, they discover a man lying dead beside the fireplace, his skull crushed by a poker still dripping. Volumes pulled from Ariadne's library shelves litter the floor around him.

This is the next installment in the Caulfield, Sheridan Mystery Series. Ariadne teaches history at Rutherford College in Coowahchobee, Florida, and the book asks who would kill this man and how he could be tied to her. The reader is invited to follow the investigation and try to work out the path to the killer.

The story is told through two resourceful, clever women who piece the clues together, and the mystery is meant to be gripping and absorbing from start to finish.