While the Ellison girls were out paying calls and taking tea like proper Victorian ladies of 1880s London, a maid in their household was strangled to death. Thoughtful young investigator Thomas Pitt knows that no one is above suspicion. And though he finds himself drawn to pretty and unconventional Charlotte Ellison, he is well aware that a romance between a society girl and a policeman is impossible—particularly in the midst of a murder. Originally published in 1979, this first Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mystery was also the debut of Edgar Award winner Anne Perry.