Two young women are found murdered in the heart of London. There are no answers, only a single red rose left on each young woman's body, the calling card of a cold-blooded killer.

Could the Whitechapel murderer be stalking the streets of London once more?

For Mikaela and Brodie, the crime is highly personal. The first victim was an accomplished musician who gave lessons to ladies of society, including their ward, Lily. She had become a close friend to the girl, and Lily asks them to take the case to find the killer.

Their investigation reveals information that may include the murder of another young woman ten years earlier and leads them in unexpected directions as Brodie returns to the streets, a place he knows well, to search for information, and Mikaela questions those who knew both young women.

Clues mount as the killer becomes more bold, and then a third victim is abducted—Lily, with a chilling warning left behind in a note along with a third red rose—‘You should not have interfered'.

Deceptions and secrets send them across London and into ancient Roman ruins under the embankment of the River Thames in a desperate race to find Lily in time, and stop an insane killer.

Ghosts of the past…

The very case that made Brodie leave the Metropolitan Police returns to jeopardize his private inquiry business, his relationship with Mikaela Forsythe, and perhaps even his life.

Ten years earlier, after Brodie refused to divulge the name of his source in a murder case, Chief Inspector Abberline threatened to have charges brought against him for withholding evidence. The case might very well have won Abberline the coveted new title of Commissioner of Police, and when the “source,” a woman, suddenly disappeared, Abberline couldn't forgive Brodie.

Now the woman has returned and says the man she could have helped put behind bars is stalking her and she's afraid for her life. Determined to save her, Brodie searches for her stalker, only to become the prime suspect himself when she turns up dead. With Abberline about to have him arrested, Brodie goes into hiding, insisting he can find the real killer.

Can Mikaela trust that Brodie's telling the truth? Why won't he tell her everything he knows? And what does this all mean for their partnership as well as their personal relationship? She's about to find out as she undertakes her own investigation to prove Brodie's innocence. And when the case takes her into the back streets of London, to the private salon of a man who knew the mysterious woman, is she prepared for what she will find?

Murder is such a nasty business…

Mikaela Forsythe has returned from her safari in Africa with Lily and her great aunt. She's survived to fight another day, which is more than can be said for one Anthony Collingwood, the victim in the latest murder investigation thrust upon her by Sir Avery of the Special Services Agency. But she made an agreement in order to save Brodie's life, and now she must honor it.

Its a particularly sensitive case, as the victim is a close friend of the Prince of Wales and a man who apparently led a double life. As she tries to track down who this man was and why someone would want him dead, the trail leads from Brussels to Frankfurt and uncovers everything from an affair with an exotic actress to clandestine schemes, and a scandal that could endanger England and the whole of the Empire.

As murder and scandal threaten to undermine the succession to the throne, there is a further complication in the case. Sir Avery insists that Brodie must assist Mikaela in the investigation.

They haven't seen each other since the argument that sent Mikaela off to Africa and out of Brodie's life. Can they work together to solve this murder and thwart foreign spies and assassins that are determined to stop them at all cost, or is the break between them irrevocable?

Mikaela takes on a case alone when Brodie is pulled into a new investigation for Sir Avery and the Agency. Her inquiry services are requested by the wife of a prominent London surgeon after he has disappeared, while Brodie is sent to track down rumors of a planned attack in London by the anarchist known as the Black Hand.

It is a time of dangerous unrest across the whole of Europe, and they realize the two cases may be connected when the doctor is found murdered at a secret office in the East End where he performed certain procedures. It is also the place where the anarchist was followed, only to disappear. What was the reason for secrecy regarding that specific office? Why was the doctor murdered? What is the connection to the anarchists?

The doctor's notes, along with unearthed documents, provide more clues about ancient Egyptian surgical procedures. And fingerprints found at the scene of the murder match prints discovered after Mikaela meets with Sir James Redstone, a friend and one-time travel companion who has recently returned to London.

She is unwilling to believe that Redstone is part of the anarchist's plot. It makes no sense. Then, a coded message is intercepted and reveals that ‘everything is in place', along with the date an attack is to take place—in just four days.

But where? And what else is in that coded message?

Assistance with deciphering the last of the code comes from an unexpected source and reveals the target—Parliament, the heart of British law and authority. Hundreds of people will die.

With time running out, they race to stop the anarchists, expose the plot, and discover a deception they could never have imagined