A Play of Dux Moraud — Margaret Frazer

In the pages of Margaret Frazer's national bestselling Dame Frevisse series, the player Joliffe has assumed many roles on stage, to the delight of those he entertains. Now, in the company of a troupe of traveling performers, he finds himself cast in the role of sleuth ...

It is the autumn of 1434, and the end-of-harvest reckoning during Michaelmas has been less than plentiful. Fortunately, Joliffe and his fellow players are surviving and thriving under the patronage of Lord Lovell. His grace is sending them to perform at Deneby Manor as a gift for the marriage of Sir Edmund Deneby's daughter, Mariena.

But Joliffe has another task to perform -- that of spy. Deneby's daughter was betrothed once before -- to a healthy man who fell ill and died before they married -- and Lord Lovell fears a similar fate befalling Mariena's current intended. And as Joliffe uncovers the secrets of the Denebys' sordid history, it becomes clear that the wedding celebration is destined to end in tragedy.