In the gaslit, fog-shrouded streets of Victorian London, a brutal secret society stalks the elite, and the price of knowledge is a fate worse than death.

For the reclusive scholar Miss Eleanor Vance, the past is a meticulously organized sanctuary, a refuge from the chaotic forward momentum of 19th-century London . But when a desperate plea from a powerful lord arrives in a wax-sealed envelope, she is drawn from her dusty archives to investigate a baffling disappearance. Armed with a mind that sees patterns others miss, this brilliant female Sherlock Holmes must turn her academic skills to a deadly, modern mystery.

What begins as a single missing person case unravels into a terrifying conspiracy that connects the highest echelons of society to the city's darkest secrets. Eleanor follows a trail of cryptic clues—a preserved, poisonous flower, a jet-black raven button, a secret ledger—that leads her ever closer to a cabal with a chilling philosophy and an appetite for abduction. As she peels back the elegant veneer of Victorian England, she discovers that the most dangerous monsters are the ones who believe in their own virtue. Now, she is not just solving a murder mystery; she is being hunted by an enemy that owns the very streets she walks, and she must unmask the mastermind before she becomes the next specimen in their horrifying collection.

A gripping historical murder mystery, perfect for fans of Anne Perry's intricate plotting, Deanna Raybourn's unconventional heroines, and the atmospheric suspense of The Woman in White.