In this sequel to Farthing, Inspector Carmichael has just come off the Farthing case and has been assigned to a bombing which killed leading actress Lauria Gilmore. Meanwhile Viola Lark has been chosen to act Hamlet in a gender-switching production of the play following Gilmore's untimely death and is drawn into a plot to kill Hitler at the opening night of the play, along with Prime Minister Mark Normanby, the lead figure in the increasingly fascistic government.
