First published 2025
Inspector Henry Cutter already feels irritable when the killings start in 1894 London. Sir Aneurin Considine, a decorated former civil servant, lies dead among his prized orchids, killed by a wound made with surgical skill. More victims follow the same pattern. Powerful men die in brutal yet perfectly planned attacks. The killer moves without trace, vanishing like smoke but leaving deliberate clues behind. Cutter pursues this invisible enemy alongside Sergeant Gideon Bliss, his bumbling but eager partner. The investigation reveals that an ancient injustice drives these murders. Someone recalls a wrong that happened years before, one that cannot be undone or forgotten. As pressure builds, the case turns inside out. Victims begin to resemble criminals. Killers appear to speak truth. Buried secrets emerge from the past. Even Cutter and Bliss start to doubt themselves and each other.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, gritty, morally-ambiguous, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigation-gone-wrong, moral-ambiguity, unreliable-narrator, victim-becomes-villain
Setting: London
Period: 1894, Victorian Era
336 pages · Paperback · Tin House
Content warnings: death, murder, violence