In the summer of 1830 Lord Ambrose Malfine returns from the battlefields of Greece to heal his emotional and physical scars in the seclusion of his West Country mansion. He shuns society, instructing his faithful manservant Belos to turn away all calling gentry. But when a nearby farmer and his sons are shot dead with a pair of duelling pistols and the villagers accuse a local gypsy of the murders, Ambrose intervenes to ensure that justice is done. At Crawshay's farm he encounters the widowed Mistress Edmund, whose glazed expressions indicates a dangerous addiction to laudanum and Miss Elisabeth Anstruther, the recently appointed governess, whose expensive dress is stained with the blood of the corpses. A mysterious look in her eyes intrigues Ambrose, who believes that dark secrets are still to be revealed. When his own safety is jeopardised and Tom Granby, the villager assigned to protect the women goes missing, Ambrose knows he must act quickly to prevent any more lives from being taken. Cover art by David Senior.