This is a Lambert and Hook mystery involving a sinister cast with ulterior motives...DS Bert Hook is cajoled into auditioning for a local Shakespearean play by the formidable Mrs Dalrymple - a woman of impeccable manners and fearful decibel levels. Desperate to get out of it, he expects his boss John Lambert to forbid him from performing, but surprisingly the Chief Superintendent grants him time off for his new 'hobby'. Amateur dramatics are not quite what Hook imagined and he meets a rather surprising - and sinister - cast of characters. Among them are moody Michael Carey, the talented actor with a big future ahead of him, shop-lifter Becky Clegg, who claims she has put her disreputable past behind her, and Jack Dawes, known on the streets as Jackdaw, with a history of violent crime linked to him. When the director is found after a rehearsal with his throat slashed Hook needs to find the truth - and fast. Who is innocent, who is just playing a part and who is really rotten to the core?