Mr. and Mrs. Lambert insist that young architect Killian Melville promised to marry their daughter Zillah, and their suit on her behalf is the talk of 1860 London. Melville, however, has adamantly declared that he will not—cannot—marry her, though his counsel Sir Oliver Rathbone is baffled by his refusal. Rathbone turns to his old friends William Monk and Hester Latterly to help him find the truth of the matter, but even as they scout the city for clues, the case ends suddenly and tragically in murder. In her 9th entry in the series, Anne Perry "does a masterful job depicting Victorian hypocrisy regarding women," noted Publishers Weekly, while the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Fans will be delighted by the long-awaited romantic denouement, which brought tears to my eyes."