On a cold November night in a Deptford yard, dock worker Harry Parker stumbles upon the body of a dead woman. Inspector Ben Ross is summoned from Scotland Yard to this insalubrious part of town, but no witness to the murder of this well-dressed, middle-aged woman can be found. Even Jeb Fisher, the local rag-and-bone man, swears he's seen nothing. Meanwhile, Ben's wife Lizzie is trying to suppress a scandal: family friend Edgar Wellings has a gambling...

Inspector Ben Ross is summoned to Newgate Prison by James Wills, a man about to face the gallows, Ben is shocked to hear his account of a brutal murder that he witnessed on Putney Heath, sixteen years ago. Unable to halt Wills's execution, Ben is ordered to forget the matter and instead to investigate the abduction of a wealthy London gentleman's wife and child. Meanwhile, Ben's wife Lizzie, and her maid Bessie take a trip to Somerset House followed...

It is spring 1871 when Lizzie Ross accompanies her formidable Aunt Parry on a restorative trip to the south coast. Lizzie's husband, Ben, is kept busy at Scotland Yard and urges his wife to stay out of harm's way. But when Lizzie and her aunt are invited to dine with other guests at the home of wealthy landowner Sir Henry Meager, and he is found shot dead in his bed the next morning, no one feels safe. On Lizzie's last visit to the New Forest, another...