Twenty new, specially commissioned stories, starring Shakespearean detectives Falstaff, Mark Antony, and Orlando, focus on investigating the dire deeds in Shakespeare's plays--for example, Romeo and Juliet's deaths, Falstaff's setup in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Cleopatra's suicide. As the Bard would say, Murder most foul.

Introduction: Shakespeare's mysteries /​ Mike Ashley
King John: When the dead rise up /​ John T. Aquino
Richard II: The death of kings /​ Margaret Frazer
Henry IV: A villainous company /​ Susanna Gregory
Henry V: The death of Falstaff /​ Darrell Schweitzer
Henry VI: A serious matter /​ Derek Wilson
Richard III: A shadow that dies /​ Mary Reed &​ Eric Mayer
Coriolanus: Mother of Rome /​ Molly Brown
Timon of Athens: Buried fortune /​ Peter T. Garratt
Julius Caesar: Cinna the poet /​ Tom Holt
Cymbeline: Imogen /​ Paul Barnett
King Lear: Serpent's tooth /​ Martin Edwards
Macbeth: Toil and trouble /​ Edward D. Hoch
Hamlet: A sea of troubles /​ Steve Lockley
A midsummer-night's dream: A midsummer eclipse /​ Stephen Baxter
Much ado about nothing: Much ado about something /​ Susan B. Kelly
The winter's tale: Who killed Mamillius? /​ Amy Myers
Twelfth night: This is Illyria, Lady /​ Kim Newman
Romeo and Juliet: Star-crossed /​ Patricia A. McKillip
The two gentlemen of Verona: The banished men /​ Keith Taylor
The taming of the shrew: The shrewd taming of Lord Thomas /​ Mary Monica Pulver
Othello: Not wisely, but too well /​ Louise Cooper
As you like it: Murder as you like it /​ F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre
The merchant of Venice: the house of Rimmon /​ Cherith Baldry
Epilogue: All is true: An ensuing evil /​ Peter Tremayne
All the plays: The collaborator /​ Rosemary Aitken