Dark Venus: A Shakespearean Actor Trilogy Volume 2

Alexander (Sander) Cooke, protaonist of The Secret Player, befriends Amelia Bassano Lanyer, the presumed Dark Lady of Shaespeare's sonnets. Historically, Amelia published a book of poetry in 1611, long after her affair with William Shkeseare. Dark Venus shows what drove Amelia to wite that book, a first for a woman in Queen Elizabeth's England. The friendship of Amelia and Sander plays out amidst the political turmoil that leads to the murder of Sander's friend and patron Ferdinando Stanley, the Earl of Derby.