The Bookman's Tale

Book 38 of my 2018 Reading Challenge

The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett

Summary (via Goodreads)
Hay-on-Wye, 1995. Peter Byerly isn't sure what drew him into this particular bookshop. Nine months earlier, the death of his beloved wife, Amanda, had left him shattered. The young antiquarian bookseller relocated from North Carolina to the English countryside, hoping to rediscover the joy he once took in collecting and restoring rare books. But upon opening an eighteenth-century study of Shakespeare forgeries, Peter is shocked when a portrait of Amanda tumbles out of its pages. Of course, it isn't really her. The watercolor is clearly Victorian. Yet the resemblance is uncanny, and Peter becomes obsessed with learning the picture's origins.
As he follows the trail back first to the Victorian era and then to Shakespeare's time, Peter communes with Amanda's spirit, learns the truth about his own past, and discovers a book that might definitively prove Shakespeare was, indeed, the author of all his plays. 

My Opinion
Reading this book reminded me of what bothers me about reading Dan Brown.  The story is building suspense and then perfectly placed coincidences (meeting tonight, met the right person, trust someone immediately so they share secrets, etc.) come in to move the plot along.

Is whether or not Shakespeare wrote his own plays an actual conspiracy theory or something made up for this book?  I'd never heard of that before so I want to research further.