Leland Curtis is a successful, post-Civil War photographer known for his ability to make the dead seem almost alive in his memorial photographs. Grieving families of the day sought last images of their loved ones and frequently called upon him to honor their dead in daguerreotypes called. The eerie photographs were called memento mori.

A fashionable New York City couple call upon Mr. Curtis to memorialize their recently deceased six-year-old, child Ernestine Tower. During the process, both he and his apprentice, Homer Bates, are horrified to observe that the little girl is clearly sending them a message, as well as one to her father.

This remarkable novel explores the Victorian world of a growing New York City, the beginnings of photography, criminal investigation, and supernatural events.