In Susanna Calkins's atmospheric debut novel, a chambermaid
must uncover a murderer in seventeenth-century plague-ridden
London For Lucy Campion, a seventeenth-century English
chambermaid serving in the household of the local
magistrate, life is an endless repetition of polishing
pewter, emptying chamber pots, and dealing with other
household chores until a fellow servant is ruthlessly
killed, and Lucy’s brother is wrongly arrested for the
crime. In a time where the accused are presumed guilty until
proven innocent, lawyers aren’t permitted to defend their
clients, and—if the plague doesn't kill them first—public
executions draw a large crowd of spectators, Lucy knows she
may never see her brother alive again. Unless, that is, she
can identify the true murderer. Determined to do just that,
Lucy finds herself venturing out of her expected station and
into raucous printers’ shops, secretive gypsy camps, the
foul streets of London, and even the bowels of Newgate
prison on a trail that might lead her straight into the arms
of the killer. In her debut novel, Susanna Calkins
seamlessly blends historical detail, romance, and mystery
into a moving and highly entertaining tale.
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