1888

Ruin‑struck by poker bets, missing for half a year, embittered and sick, detective Ethan Brandt returns to the British capital in the autumn of 1888. His arrival stirs tension in London society, because none of the high-ranking officials knows who this time will have a dossier compiled on them—and who will again become a participant in a fake crime. Ethan himself doesn’t want to return to the circle of aristocrats, but he will still be pulled into a bloody conflict among them and, unwillingly, take up the investigation of horrific murders that plunge damp, drugged, gloomy London into shock and terror for months to come. While questioning witnesses and trying to keep out of the police commissioner’s and the new detective’s interference, Mr. Brandt will be forced to dig not only into the origins of the committed crime, but also to bring to light deeply hidden facts from the biographies of his old acquaintances—who are involved in the anxiety that has spread through every dark corner of the city.