With elegance, wit, and welcome diversity, this spellbinding historical mystery series follows a captivating, resourceful heroine whose notorious past—and unparalleled detecting talent—crosses swords with a killer cutting a vengeful swath through London high society . . .

A marriage of convenience saved Lady Abigail Worthing's family from disgrace, but she's finding her absent husband's endless conditions increasingly repressive. 

Unwilling to stay at their London home during Yuletide, she accepts a ride to her aunt's residence in Cheapside from her neighbor, Stapleton Henderson. However, she's less than delighted that she's his excuse to avoid a dinner held by Lord Charles Duncan, one of London's most powerful—and relentless—magistrates. 

Then an unexpected blizzard strands them at Lord Duncan's with his other houseguests. Suddenly, an evening of fine dining, fine brandy, and insightful debate becomes an inescapable—and deadly—ordeal. One of the guests is found dead in front of the Berkley Square mansion. And when another party is murdered, Abigail discovers each had received a taunting, prophetic nursery rhyme . . . coincidence, or clues? 

As Abigail races to identify the killer among them, she'll be forced to put her own and Stapleton's life at risk in a gambit that will alter their fates forever—or end them permanently.

Author: Vanessa Riley

Crime & mystery

Published on 25 November 2025 by KENSINGTON PUBLISHING in the United States.

Paperback / softback | 320 pages
210 x 140 | 369g