As Inspector Thomas Pitt works to resolve the case of a dismembered woman, his brother-in-law, George March, Lord Ashworth, is poisoned. The police's main suspect: Charlotte's sister, Emily. Convinced of her innocence, Charlotte and Pitt take on the March clan with the help of her formidable Great-aunt Vespasia, attempting to break through their wall of deceit and silence.
When Emily finds Sybilla March, George's suspected mistress, strangled by her hair, the case would seem hopeless for anyone but the Pitts. Their pursuit of the truth takes them down a path of corruption, depravity, and murder, from the elegant townhouses lining fashionable Cardington Crescent to the horrifying slums of London.