8 February 1601. The personal troops of a disgraced royal favourite mount up and ride on the City of London. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex and his lieutenant, Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton are in open revolt against Queen Elizabeth I and her Government. Richard Palmer is swept up in the action. He calls himself an investigator, others call him an informer. Chief Minister Cecil has need for one - the Queen is enraged by the revival of a play at the Globe about deposing a reigning monarch in favour of a populist rival. Was Richard II meant to get the mob in the mood for regicide? She...

Fire, Burn is the sequel to Chris Crowcroft's highly successful and well reviewed historical thriller Shakespeare in Trouble, featuring the Elizabethan investigator, Richard Palmer.

It is now 1605 and intelligence sources are warning that Catholic terrorists, angry at a new regime's reluctance to grant religious toleration, are planning a violent event, but not who or when. Robert Cecil, Chief Minister under the new King, James Stuart, calls Richard Palmer in for a second time.

Palmer must infiltrate the insurgent network, including its...