SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 CWA SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 'Enthralling, exciting, extraordinary and utterly convincing. Everything a great book should be' Sarah Hilary 'Wonderfully atmospheric, each page carries the whiff of sulphur and gaslight' Red Everyone has a secret... Only some lead to murder. Introducing Leo Stanhope: a Victorian transgender coroner's assistant who must uncover a killer without risking his own future When the body of a young woman is wheeled into the hospital where Leo Stanhope works, his life is thrown into chaos. Maria, the woman he loves, has been murdered and it is not long before the finger of suspicion is turned on him, threatening to expose his lifelong secret. For Leo Stanhope was born Charlotte, the daughter of a respectable reverend, but knowing he was meant to be a man – despite the evidence of his body – he fled his family home at just fifteen and has been living as Leo ever since. Desperate to find Maria's killer, he now stands to lose not just his freedom, but ultimately his life. ____________________ The latest Leo Stanhope case, The Blood Flower, is available to pre-order now - out July 2022! ____________________

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 CWA SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 'Enthralling, exciting, extraordinary and utterly convincing. Everything a great book should be' Sarah Hilary 'Wonderfully atmospheric, each page carries the whiff of sulphur and gaslight' Red Everyone has a secret... Only some lead to murder. Introducing Leo Stanhope: a Victorian transgender coroner's assistant who must uncover a killer without risking his own future When the body of a young woman is wheeled into the hospital where Leo Stanhope works, his life is thrown into chaos. Maria, the woman he loves, has been murdered and it is not long before the finger of suspicion is turned on him, threatening to expose his lifelong secret. For Leo Stanhope was born Charlotte, the daughter of a respectable reverend, but knowing he was meant to be a man - despite the evidence of his body - he fled his family home at just fifteen and has been living as Leo ever since. Desperate to find Maria's killer, he now stands to lose not just his freedom, but ultimately his life. ____________________ The latest Leo Stanhope case, The Blood Flower, is available to pre-order now - out July 2022! ____________________

BONUS: This edition contains excerpts from Anne Perry's Treason at Lisson Grove and Execution Dock. For Superintendent Thomas Pitt, the sight of the dead man riding the morning tide of the Thames is unforgettable. The corpse lies in a battered punt drifting through the early mist, clad in a torn green gown and bestrewn with flowers. Pitt’s determined search for answers to the victim’s identity leads him deep into London’s bohemia—to the theatre where beautiful Cecily Antrim is outraging society with her bold portrayal of a modern woman, and into studios where masters of light and shadow are experimenting with the fascinating new art of photography. But only Pitt’s masterly investigative skills enable him to identify the wildfire passions raging through this tragedy of good and evil, to hunt down the guilty and protect the innocent.

"When a gentlewoman is savagely murdered in her own bed, Lord Redmond and Inspector Haze must pick apart her seemingly blameless life to understand what drove her attacker to such frenzied rage- and how they managed to escape from a locked room in a house filled with people. The closer Redmond and Haze get to the truth, the more secrets they uncover, and the greater the risk the perpetrator will strike again. Will they solve the case before the killer claims another victim?" - Amazon.com.