**Intrepid photographer Sarah Bain and her motley crew of detectives are
back to hunt criminals in the seedy underbelly of Victorian London--but
little do they know, the darkness may lurk closer than they first
divined
**
Photographer Sarah Bain and her friends, Lord Hugh Staunton and sometime
street urchin Mick O'Reilly, are private detectives with a new
gig--photographing crime scenes for London's Daily World newspaper. The
Daily World is the latest business venture of their sole client, Sir
Gerald Mariner, a fabulously wealthy and powerful banker.
One cold, snowy January morning, Sarah, Hugh and Mick are summoned to
the goriest crime scene they've ever encountered. A pub owner named
Harry Warbrick has been found hanged and decapitated amid evidence of
foul play. His murder becomes a sensation for being England's top
hangman but was met with the same fate that he inflicted on hundreds of
criminals.
Sir Gerald announces that the Daily World--meaning Sarah and her
friends--will investigate and solve Harry Warbrick's murder before the
police do. The contest pits Sarah against the man she loves, Police
Constable Barrett. She and her friends discover a connection between
Harry Warbrick's murder and the most notorious criminal he ever
executed--Amelia Carlisle, the "Baby-Butcher," who murdered hundreds of
infants placed in her care.
Something happened at Amelia's execution. The Official Secrets Act
forbids the seven witnesses present to divulge any information about it.
But Harry had a bad habit of leaking tips to the press. Sarah and her
friends suspect that one of the other witnesses killed Harry to prevent
him from revealing a secret related to the execution. What is the
secret, and who hanged the hangman? From award-winning author Laura Joh
Rowland, The Hangman's Secret builds suspense about the darkness that
lurks within and the deadly secrets that beg to be revealed.
