First published 2009
Rider Sandman returns to London in 1820 expecting to marry his fiancée and enjoy his status as a Waterloo hero. Instead he discovers himself broke in a city plagued by unemployment and social chaos. The government hangs men for minor offenses while innocent people face the gallows alongside the guilty. Sandman accepts work as a private investigator to examine the case of a painter sentenced to death for a murder he claims he never committed. The job offers both desperately needed income and a chance to deliver justice in a corrupt system. His investigation leads him from exclusive gentlemen's clubs to disreputable taverns, from grand aristocratic estates to busy artists' studios. The deeper Sandman digs into the case, the more complex the murder becomes. Someone with power wants the painter to hang and will go to great lengths to prevent Sandman from uncovering what really happened. Time runs short as the execution date approaches and Sandman races to save an innocent man's life.
Genres: historical-fiction, adventure, mystery, crime, thriller, 19th-century
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, race-against-time
Setting: London
Period: 1820
320 pages · Kindle Edition · HarperCollins e-books
Content warnings: death, violence