London, 1871. The rich man in his Bayswater villa, the poor man at his gate casing the place. For many, crime was the only way to get a start in life and ostentatious wealth was a temptation. In a time of an emergent police force and no telephones, a wave of burglaries terrorises the well-to-do. It was enough to put ideas into Val Leary's head. An Irish labourer, he lacked the tools, the expertise and the capital but the Soho underworld would provide those. What he needed was an inside contact. That's where Janey came in: a kitchenmaid, the lowest of the servants, in an age when dismissal without references was tantamount to certain death. Will she risk it?