NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
In Victorian England, a divisive election is fast approaching. Passions
are so enflamed that Thomas Pitt, shrewd mainstay of the London police,
has been ordered not to solve a crime but to prevent a national
disaster. The aristocratic Tory candidate--and Pitt's archenemy--is
Charles Voisey. The Liberal candidate is Aubrey Serracold, whose wife's
dalliance with spiritualism threatens his chances. Indeed, she is one of
the participants in a late-night séance that becomes the swan song of a
stylish clairvoyant who is found brutally murdered the next morning in
her house on Southampton Row. Meanwhile, Pitt's wife, Charlotte, and
their children are enjoying a country vacation--unaware that they, too,
are deeply endangered by the same fanatical forces hovering over the
steadfast Pitt.