When Inspector Thomas Pitt is asked to reopen an old case—a murder three years ago in London's luxurious Hanover Close—he is well aware that his superiors simply want him to smooth things over. But breaking through the tacit reserve of those high society households will take more finesse than Pitt can muster. Fortunately, his wellborn wife Charlotte and her sister Emily are their peers, and thus privy to conversations that would never reach the ears of a mere policeman. What they discover, in this ninth book in Anne Perry's late Victorian mystery series, is a secret so shocking it will lead to more deaths—including, quite possibly, the inspector's own.