Traces Remain

History leaves traces of the people - Byron, Shakespeare, Rimbaud, Leonardo - living through it, in portraits, documents and books. In "Traces Remain", Charles Nicholl, the acclaimed author of "The Reckoning", "The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street" and "Leonardo da Vinci: The Flights of the Mind", transforms these glimpses through time into comic and poignant vignettes, and curious, intriguing puzzles. From a mysterious painting found in a Hereford house to the death of an alchemist, and from a new Jack the Ripper suspect to a gold hunt in El Dorado, Nicholl's twenty-five fascinating essays take in two murders, three disappearances and a missing Shakespeare play to show the marvel and tenacity of these wonderful historical traces. "Our finest literary and historical detective...Deliciously readable". -- Financial Times "Charles Nicholl confirms his role as literature's historic Holmes ...thoroughly captivating". -- Scotsman "Some writers are so good at what they do that they can take you anywhere. Charles Nicholl is one of them". -- Irish Times