In her thrilling new series, the New York Times
bestselling author of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries, returns
once more to Victorian England…and introduces intrepid
adventuress Veronica Speedwell.
London,
1887. As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria’s
golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of
her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned
Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of
scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance. As
familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off
admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a sharpened
hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to
England now gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of
a lifetime.
But fate has other plans, as Veronica
discovers when she thwarts her own abduction with the help
of an enigmatic German baron with ties to her mysterious
past. Promising to reveal in time what he knows of the plot
against her, the baron offers her temporary sanctuary in the
care of his friend Stoker—a reclusive natural historian as
intriguing as he is bad-tempered. But before the baron can
deliver on his tantalizing vow to reveal the secrets he has
concealed for decades, he is found murdered. Suddenly
Veronica and Stoker are forced to go on the run from an
elusive assailant, wary partners in search of the villainous
truth.