by Steven Price
First published 2016
London, 1885. When a severed head surfaces in the Thames and a woman's corpse appears on Edgeware Road, Scotland Yard calls in William Pinkerton, the celebrated American detective. The dead woman matches someone Pinkerton has been tracking, a grifter he believed would lead him to his true quarry. Edward Shade is an industrialist with no verifiable past, a legendary con artist who steals men's futures and vanishes like smoke. Pinkerton inherited this hunt from his father, an obsession that began during the Civil War's final days. Now the chase carries him from South African diamond mines to London's fog-shrouded streets. As Pinkerton closes in on his target, he discovers that hunter and hunted share an unexpected bond. In a city built on grief and broken trust, the greatest detective of his era faces the one criminal who might outwit him.
Genres: historical-fiction, adventure, mystery, crime, thriller, 19th-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, enemies-to-lovers, obsession
Setting: London, Edgeware Road, South Africa
Period: 1885, Civil War
24 pages · Audio CD · Macmillan Audio