London’s most unusual sleuthing team, Inspector Thomas Pitt and his wife, Charlotte, just cannot seem to stay away from trouble. When Charlotte learns of her mother’s distress in losing a locket with a compromising picture, she has no idea that it’s just the beginning of a series of bizarre events that will end in sudden death. For hidden behind the sumptuous elegance of Rutland Place, where Charlotte’s mother lives, are terrible secrets—secrets so horrifying that only murder can conceal them. But the dangerous persistence of Charlotte and the quiet patience of Inspector Pitt will make it possible to unwind this most macabre and chilling mystery.

A mystery set in Victorian England by the New York Times–bestselling author whose “novels attain the societal sweep of Trollope or Thackeray” (Booklist, starred review). When her mother asks her help in finding a lost locket with a compromising picture, neither Charlotte Pitt, nor her mother, has any idea that the locket may be at the center of a bizarre chain of events leading to murder. Arriving at her mother’s home at Rutland Place, Charlotte discovers that other residents of the exclusive neighborhood have also suffered similar small thefts. It all appears quite mild as crimes go—a light-fingered servant, perhaps. That is, until Mina Spencer-Brown, a woman known for her prying, is poisoned and dies. Inspector Thomas Pitt quickly surmises that Mina’s snooping might have led to her murder, but what secrets had she stumbled upon? And whose? As Pitt patiently struggles to break down the protective silence of high-born neighbors, Charlotte works behind the closed doors of society’s drawing rooms to help unravel a mystery that reveals sordid secrets and the chilling, dark corners of human behavior.

Full-color photography and a host of practical information highlight this series of user-friendly travel guides, which also include descriptions of local sites, restaurants, hostels, shops, and nightspots; ratings of sites for value, historic interest, family friendly appeal, and other criteria; local itineraries and shopping suggestions; travel suggestions; transportation options; and colorful maps.