When Charlotte Richmond's dearest friend decides to visit Bath for medical treatment, Charlotte, a young Victorian widow, is delighted to accompany her. But the spa town turns out to be far less genteel than she anticipates. Their fellow guests at elegant Waterloo House seem to be haunted by secrets and Charlotte is soon embroiled in mysteries, mayhem and murder. When one of the inhabitants of Waterloo House is stabbed to death it is Charlotte who trips over the corpse and begins to ask questions. In the course of her unofficial enquiries her own life is put in peril as she uncovers family secrets and stumbles upon a mystery that could even change the course of history.